Hearts Connected
by Vampire-Souls
Summary: Four friends find themselves in the world of Kingdom Hearts.But one of their friends is missing. Can they find her before darkness has taken her heart? Reviews appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

"Glad you could make it." Kristen said, opening the door to the house of herself and her twin sister, Amanda. Both had blue eyes, long blonde hair, and eager faces, anticipating what was soon to happen.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Melissa, their friend with blue eyes and short brunette hair said while leading their dark-eyed and dark-haired friend, Stella, into the room. Amanda sat on the couch in the living room, looking at the large TV that was currently off.

"Anything good on?" Melissa asked sarcastically, standing in front of the TV while Stella sat on the floor by her and Kristen planted herself on the couch.

"Yeah, this show on TV has an excellent plot and great graphics. I think you would like it." Amanda and Melissa glared at eachother playfully, bursting into laughter after a few seconds.

"Hey, guys, guess what?" Kristen said, interrupting the laughter.

"I think we're gonna hear it anyway." Melissa whispered to Stella, loudly enough so everyone could hear.

Kristen rolled her eyes, then continued. "Amanda gave me the guide for my birthday!"

"I was going to tell them!" Amanda responded, glaring at her twin, "You ruined all the practice that I spent for the whole presentation!"

"But it's _my_ book!" Kristen glared back, and Stella had to intervene before things got ugly.

"Children, children! Focus!" She said, rummaging through the pile of games that the twins had next to the Playstation 2 that was connected to the large TV. "Where's the game?"

"Aww, Stella wants us to hurry up so she can see Sora faster." Melissa teased. They hadn't even started the game and they had already called 'dibs' on characters, with only the general knowledge known about them. Stella, unfortunately, was the last to call someone, and had gotten stuck with Sora.

"I don't like Sora!" Stella fumed. "Just give me the disk!"

Amanda shrugged, opening the sealed case and pulling out the disk. She tossed it to Stella like a shuriken. Stella rolled her eyes and put the disk into the Playstation.

"You know, Kristen," Melissa said, trying to change the subject, "guidebooks are for cheaters."

"They are not!" Kristen objected.

"Sure they are." Stella said, smiling. "Or they're just for people who obviously fail at gaming and can't figure out things on their own."

"Will you guys shut up?" Kristen growled, chucking a pillow at Stella, who dodged it gracefully. Instead of hitting the TV as it should have, the pillow went straight through it.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one that saw that." Amanda said, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Everyone shook their heads speechlessly, and Kristen stood and walked toward the TV, still holding onto her guidebook. She tilted her head and put her hand into the TV, where it half-disappeared.

"What do you think you're doing?" Melissa scolded, going to grab Kristen's hand from the TV. Even as she pulled, Kristen's hand was stuck, and no amount of pulling would get it out.

"I guess the only way to go is forward." Kristen smiled wryly.

"No, we're getting you out of this thing!" Melissa growled, signaling Amanda and Stella to come help pull. As soon as they all touched her, a bright light exploded from the TV. . .

. . . and they were **g o n e**.


	2. Chapter 2

Everything was dark. Kristen's surroundings, her thoughts, even the air she breathed lacked any light or essence. Slowly she began to gain conscious thought.

_Am I dead?_ Her first thought was a glum one. _Guess TV really _does_ kill._ She smiled at her own joke, turning to look around in the darkness. She was floating, for she felt nothing beneath her feet, and the feeling was dizzying.

_It's too dark to be heaven,_ Kristen finally thought, bringing her mother's beliefs into account. She began to wonder about other religious beliefs, humoring herself with the idea that she already knew or found out, but would have no one to tell.

She began to worry about her sister and friends, hoping that they had not fallen into the same fate as herself. They had touched her at the same time as she had vanished, or so she remembered, so where were they?

There was a faint glow of light ahead. Kristen took a step toward it, noting how it got a bit bigger the closer she moved toward it. She hesitated, remembering how everyone always said "don't go toward the light", and turned to look back. No other paths appeared, and there was nowhere to turn back to. She walked toward the light, engulfed in it more and more as she continued closer.

She found herself falling through the air. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to focus on other things besides dying when she would hit the floor. The air wisping her hair and clothes didn't really help her with that. She was frightened, and unaware that she was screaming.

Suddenly she felt a thump as she hit the floor. It didn't make sense to her, since she would be dead, and the soreness wouldn't be limited to her mid-back and the back of her knees.

Thinking quickly, she concluded that she was caught. Her worries began to increase, since she had read about Heartless and how they ripped your heart away from you. She swallowed and opened her eyes, and was filled with relief when she saw that it was nothing completely dangerous. It was Riku, the boy in Kingdom Hearts, and the one that she had called 'dibs' on.

"My–" Kristen began, stopping herself before saying something she would regret.

"Your. . .?" Riku asked, an eyebrow raised. Kristen smiled, pretending that she hadn't heard the question, and stood to look for her friends. Stella was standing next to Sora, another boy from the game, and Melissa was standing next to Leon, arguing with him. Kristen could hear a bit of their argument, and sighed as she remembered the fact that Melissa didn't like Leon much.

"The tree would have been much better than you." Melissa growled, folding her arms.

"I'll take that as a thank you." Leon replied, also folding his arms.

"Well, don't!"

"I guess then next time I wont save you from a four-story fall!"

"Death from extreme heights would be better than being saved by you!"

"What did you just say?!"

Kristen sighed; Melissa had the ability to go on for hours, but she supposed Leon did too.

Stella appeared from behind Kristen. "Hey." She looked over at Melissa and Leon, sighing and shaking her head. She often found it entertaining, and nodded as Kristen told her the predicament. She smiled, the same smile she often wore when she had an evil plan.

"If you'll excuse me, you two lovebirds," Stella said, grabbing Melissa's arm, "we need her for a second."

"What's wrong?" Melissa asked, noticing how glum Kristen was.

"We're in Traverse Town, one of the first worlds in Kingdom Hearts, Amanda's nowhere to be seen, and I can't find the guide she gave me. I'm certain I had it when we were sucked through the TV."

Something suddenly hit Kristen from above.

"Found it." Stella said, pointing at the book where it had fallen after hitting Kristen on the head. Riku walked over and picked up the book.

"What's so important about a crummy book, anyway?" He asked, looking over the cover. "Kingdom Hearts: owners manual. Honestly, what's the big deal?" He flipped through the pages, stopping at a certain one. "Leon, Sora, come here!"

"Hey Riku, this guy looks like you. See? He even has your cocky smile." Sora said, pointing at a picture in the book.

"You idiot, it _is _me." Riku rolled his eyes, then pointed to a picture. "And here's you, and here's Leon."

Leon looked oddly at us. "How old are you guys? Fifteen?" They all nodded at his question. He sighed and looked back at Sora and Riku, who nodded. He then looked beck at them again.

"So you guys are Heartless." He concluded, taking out his gunblade.

"WHAT?!" The girls yelled in disbelief.

"You guys are pathetic liars. Anyone your age would have a weapon, and any person that comes in is attacked by Heartless, but none have approached you. You also have data on every person and Heartless in this area, and you fell from a black hole in the sky. If that doesn't prove you're Heartless, I don't know what will."

"What? You're expecting us to change into our Heartless forms now?" Melissa growled.

"Sarcasm not helping here." Stella said, clasping a hand over Melissa's mouth.

Weapons appeared in Sora and Riku's hands, and the girls flinched. Leon came at them, swinging his sword. The girls dodged quickly, and while he was regaining his balance, they ran down an alleyway.

The alleyway was dark, and one end was blocked by boxes. Stella looked around quickly and pointed to a box. The girls jumped on top of it, onto a ledge, and onto a low roof. They held their breath and pressed themselves against the wall as the Keyblade bearers and Leon ran down the alleyway to look for them. When the footsteps faded away, the girls relaxed their guard.

"It was nice knowing you guys." Stella whispered glumly. Kristen wanted to say how it wasn't over, how they still had a chance, but she knew that it was impossible. Without weapons they would be killed by Heartless, and with the Keyblade bearers hating them, they would have no way to get out of Traverse Town. She sighed glumly.

"Hey, don't give up!" Melissa said, lightly banging Kristen and Stella's heads together. "We can't lose and we can't give up! We have to find Amanda, remember?"

"I bet she's doing better than us." Stella smiled weakly.

"That girl has probably found a stick and is wiping the floor with the Heartless and whoever opposes her." Melissa added.

"Hey, has anybody else noticed that our clothes have changed?" Kristen asked, looking down at her outfit. Instead of her normal long sleeve shirt, she was wearing two tank-tops, the top one having one strap on her right shoulder, and the bottom one having two thin straps. A small flower came from the bottom of her shirt, matching the color of the flower pattern that seemed to extend up her pant legs. Across her shoulders was a small strap that held a bag that was big enough to hold her guidebook.

"Anybody else notice that our midriffs are showing?" Stella said, looking at her folded over tank-top that had a thick ribbon that tied at her back. Under the shirt was a three-quarter sleeve shirt that matched the color of her cargo pants.

"That's male designers for you." Melissa shrugged, smiling as she noticed that she wore a hooded t-shirt that did not expose her midriff, but was wearing a layered skirt that was much shorter than she would have liked.

"Jokes aside, maybe we should think of a way to get out of here." Stella suggested.

Each girl closed their eyes, trying to come up with a plan.

"Guys. . .?" Kristen and Stella opened their eyes in response to Melissa's silent whisper. Both gasped when they saw what she had. There were two swords in her hands, both shaped as feathers and razor-sharp.

"How did you do that?" Kristen asked.

"I dunno. I just thought about how much I would like to beat up Leon for thinking we're Heartless, and how much I want to help Amanda. And then these appeared."

Stella and Kristen looked at eachother and shrugged. Both closed their eyes, and when they opened, a staff appeared in both Kristen's and Stella's hands.

Kristen smiled, "Thunder," She whispered, making a lightning bolt hit near Leon's feet.

Stella tried the same thing. "Thunder! . . . blizzard . . . fire?" Nothing worked, irritating her. "Why wont this stupid thing work?" She banged the staff against the roof, cutting it. "Ooh, this is way better than your magiky staff."

The girls smiled at eachother, now ready to fight. They jumped off the roof and faced the guys, noticing how eager Leon was to dice them to pieces.

Kristen smiled and yelled "Thunder!" making a distraction big enough which gave Melissa and Stella enough time to do a whole chain of combos. In a matter of minutes, the three boys fell to the floor, exhausted. Leon growled, and glared at Kristen as she pointed her staff at him after taking back her book.

"Cure." She said, healing them instantly. Sora and Riku rose without hesitation and smiled, while Leon rose cautiously, acting as if a poison spell had been cast upon him.

Riku tapped Kristen on the shoulder, grinning. "You did really well for a person that was clueless moments ago. I've never actually seen a girl fight like that."

"Hey!" A girl yelled from behind him. "I remember some girl kicking your butt!" They turned to see a young girl crossing her arms angrily. It took only moments to recognize who it was, for it was Yuffie, the adorable ninja-girl.

"I hear you know all about us." Yuffie said, addressing the three girls. "Can I see it?" Yuffie grinned as Kristen handed her the book, and squealed in enjoyment after flipping to a certain page. "That is like the best picture of me ever! This thing is so cool!" She smiled, handing back the book before Leon grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her a bit.

"Don't you think it's weird that they know so much about us?" Leon asked.

"Squall. . . stop being such a tightwad." Yuffie said, prying his fingers off of her shoulders. "Everything always has a reason for being here, and these guys are no different. Honestly." She smiled, wagging a finger at him.

"But they fell from four stories high. No building is that tall in all of Traverse Town."

"So they fell out of a portal, big deal. They're probably from another world that got attacked. Besides, if they were Heartless, they would have already attacked us. Heartless aren't smart, right?" She turned to face the girls, who nodded in return.

"Or. . ." Melissa said, putting on her fake scary face, "we're just Heartless waiting for the right moment to strike and steal your hearts."

"See? See?" Leon said, pointing at them. "They just admitted it!"

"Get over it."

Leon growled in frustration. As soon as Yuffie said that, he stormed off toward the accessory shop.

"Man. Ever since he was attacked and almost beaten by two Heartless leaders, he hasn't been the same." Yuffie held her head in her palm. "It was kinda similar conditions, but. . . never mind that. Can I ask you guys a favor?"

"What is it?" Stella asked.

***

They arrived at the Third District in a matter of minutes. Yuffie had told them that two men of the King were having troubles with this monster, and needed help badly. Just one look showed that her statement was an understatement.

While Riku and Sora dragged the Kings men, who the girls quickly realized was Donald and Goofy, the girls began fighting Guard Armor.

"Kristen! What's the stats on this guy?" Melissa yelled as she dodged a mighty blow from its legs.

Kristen ran back a little distance away so she could read without getting hurt. Quickly she opened the book and flipped open the page with the data on it. "He's one of the first bosses in the game, so he should be simple. His HP is relatively low, and the strategy is to destroy his legs and arms before going for the torso so you don't receive as much damage. Avoid him when he starts spinning."

Melissa and Stella nodded as they charged at him.

"I call the legs!" Melissa yelled.

"I get the arms!" Stella called back.

Kristen put her book into the bag and took her staff from the ground. "Fine then, the torso's all mine!"

After about ten minutes, only an arm had been demolished by Stella, a leg destroyed by Melissa, and half of the torso's HP had been depleted by Kristen.

"How come everything is always harder in real life than in a game?" Stella asked, breathing heavily.

"Wait, that's it!" Melissa said, smiling gleefully.

"What is?" Kristen and Stella asked in unison, confused looks on their faces.

"Watch and see." She walked over to the giant suit of armor, the swords gripped tightly in her hands. It bent down to look at her, then swung its arm to strike her. She jumped on it, and ran up the arm to its head and struck it full force. While it was confused and recovering from the hit, the girls attacked with all their might and destroyed the Guard Armor.

"Thanks." Sora said. He jumped down from where he was standing, Donald and Goofy right behind him. They fell on top of him, just like what should have happened in the cut scene before fighting guard armor. Riku rolled his eyes and shook his head, and Donald and Goofy noticed how both Sora and Riku carried a Keyblade. They told them about their King, and what they must do.

Kristen smiled. She knew that they would be told about their search for the King, their destiny to defeat the Heartless, and how they could work together on the trip to find Sora and Riku's friend, Kairi. She didn't pay much attention, and looked at the book glumly. She didn't understand why Riku was there, when he should be working with the Heartless, or where her sister was, what had happened, or what she would do now.

"Kristen." Stella said, nudging her shoulder. "They asked if they could return the favor for helping them."

"I'm sure we could come up with something, right?" Melissa asked, smiling softly.

Kristen looked down to think, but Yuffie interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey guys! I guess you handled it well, huh?" She smiled, waving eagerly. Leon was right behind her, saying 'hello' in a way that men normally do.

"Yuffie. . ." Kristen began, biting her lip, "you haven't seen my sister, have you?"

"Mmm, you'd have to tell me what she looks like."

Melissa smiled. "In the easiest and most accurate way to describe it, she looks exactly like Kristen, except maybe with a scowl on her face."

"Can't say I've seen her." Yuffie said. "Sorry."

Kristen turned to Sora, who was talking to Riku. " I thought of how you could repay us." She said, catching their attention. "We want to join you on your trip."

"Wait a sec." Stella said, turning Kristen around. "_Why_ exactly would we join them?"

"Listen, I have a feeling that our only way out is by going through the worlds and making it to the end of the game." Krsiten whispered. "And I really need to find Amanda. She has to be somewhere out there."

"True." Melissa replied, then turned to face the group of guys that were curiously looking at them. "Yup, that's what we want."

Donald automatically said 'no', Sora and Riku said 'yes', and Goofy asked 'why'.

"We're looking for someone." Stella said confidently.

"Then of course you can join!" Goofy said. "We're all looking for someone as well!"

"WHAAAT?" Donald quacked. "We don't have enough room in our Gummi Ship!"

"Not a problem." Stella said, quickly looking at their Gummi Ship, making a new design that would work with all the blocks they had, and giving the blueprint to the two mini captains, Chip and Dale. Once it was done it was a sight to behold, for it was large and amazing, and impressive enough that even Cid, the Gummi engineer, would be proud.

"Now is there a problem with room?" Stella asked sarcastically. "I've also added triple cannons, improved your armor to the most advanced mode, increased your rate of hyper-speed, and mixed your portal settings so you can avoid more Heartless."

Everyone looked at eachother and nodded, now a newly formed team. They left Traverse Town, a new place ahead of them, and a new adventure to look forward to. They were now prepared for anything that came their way.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't long before they landed in Wonderland. It was an odd place, where things didn't appear normal.

Stella began counting, her voice growing quieter as the number of fingers she held up decreased. "Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . ." Just as she was about to say "one", a white rabbit appeared, constantly murmuring to himself.

"I'm late . . . have my head . . . " were the only things that the group could decipher from his words, making them even more confused than they already were. They noticed how the white rabbit exited through a door on the opposite side of the room. Stella ran toward the door, Sora following close behind, and the others simply walking over there.

Stella reached for the door.

"Go away. I'm trying to sleep!" The doorknob said, making Stella fall backward in shock. Sora attempted to catch her as she fell into him, but he wound up falling himself. Both began blushing immensely, making everyone else laugh.

"I can't believe you got scared by a doorknob!" Riku said, doubling over in laughter.

Stella stood up quickly. "You got scared by your mom!" She retorted.

"What?" Sora and Riku asked in unison, confused looks on their faces. Stella, Melissa, and Kristen laughed in unison, all of them realizing that there were no "your momma" jokes in the Kingdom Hearts universe.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Riku asked angrily, glaring at them.

"None of your business." Kristen replied, glaring back playfully.

"Children, no telepathic fighting here." Stella laughed.

"Who knows?" Melissa said, smiling, "They could be saying 'I love you' back and forth."

"Melissa!" Kristen and Riku said in unison, blushing slightly.

"You know I can only use telepathy with Amanda." Kristen said, trying to change the subject.

"Really?" Donald and Goofy asked, both falling for the trap that she always used.

"It's. A. Secret." Kristen said mysteriously, laughing at how interested they were.

The conversation halted as Sora called everyone over to a table that sat in the middle of the room. Apparently while everyone else was joking around, he was looking through the room, had pushed back this bed that led to a secret hallway, and had found bottles that could make them small enough to go through the secret passage.

The secret passage led then to this outdoor rose garden courtroom, which Melissa could only describe with three words: froop-a-loop. They had come across the place in the midst of a trial, where a girl was being blamed for something the Heartless obviously had done, and was being sentenced with an "off with her head." Sora's insistence to save her made them jump to the rescue, just as was supposed to be done in the game.

"Who says off with your head anymore?" Melissa criticized as Sora tried to convince the judge that the ruling was unfair. Stella shrugged.

"Bring me your evidence!" The queen said finally. "You may find as much as you want, but if you find nothing . . . " She made a gesture of her finger across her neck, meaning "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

They quickly ran toward the forest, all wanting to keep their heads.

"I say we split up to cover more ground." Riku said form behind the group.

Melissa turned and rolled her eyes. "Surprise, surprise."

"What?"

"Oops, did I say that out loud?" Melissa held her hand to her mouth.

"Moving on," Sora said, trying to change the subject, "I think it's a good idea. Melissa, Goofy, and Stella should be in one group, and Riku, Kristen, Donald, and I will be in the other."

"What, you don't trust us girls to stick together and not start any chaos?" Melissa said, trying to stir up some trouble.

Riku and Sora turned to Melissa, their backs facing Kristen. "What? Do you guys want to be in a group instead?"

Melissa looked back at Kristen, who was shaking her head and arms earnestly. "Nope."

They all went off in their different directions, Stella and Melissa leading Goofy around. They walked for a long time, worried about whether or not they were lost. While walking, Melissa noticed a box hidden within a tree and went to examine it.

"What do you think this is?" she asked, pulling the pink box out form the branch.

"Maybe it's evidence, a-hyuck."

Heartless began to appear from around their feet. It wasn't long before they were all defeated, and Stella began running toward an odd door. She turned to notice that no one was following her, and ran back to tug both Melissa and Goofy into the room.

Through the door was another part of the forest that had lily pads rising out form the lake. The girls didn't bother trying to figure out the place anymore, since it was the opposed all reality. They ran up the lily pad steps, and saw a door toward the top of the tree. No one could see through the door to what lay beyond, but being cautious wasn't going to get them anywhere.

The door led to the first room they had entered in when they first arrived in Wonderland, except that they were on the wall.

"I guess the rules of gravity don't apply here." Melissa said, scratching her head. Stella shook her head in response, but looked up at the wall. Up on the wall, which was actually the normal floor, were Riku and Kristen.

"I feel bad for Riku . . ." Melissa said.

"Why?" Goofy asked.

"'Cause he got stuck with Kristen, silly. She's such a klutz that he's probably working twice as hard." Stella said, laughing.

While Melissa was laughing and walking, she tripped over a pink box, another one of the evidence pieces.

"Sure, guys, just laugh." Melissa said, dusting herself off angrily.

"We can't help it, that was hilarious!" Stella said, laughing.

"Well you're just racist!" Melissa said, referring to a show, making Stella laugh all the harder.

Goofy looked at them like they just blew in from stupid town.

"Hey guys!" Riku yelled, waving his arm so they would see him. "How are you guys doing with the whole . . . yeah . . . "

"We found two boxes!" Stella yelled back.

"We found one! I wonder if Sora found anything?"

"They're not with you?" Melissa asked.

"We kinda got . . . separated . . . "

"As we can see." Melissa said. "Too bad you got stuck with Kristen!"

"Hey!" Kristen said, waving her staff at Melissa angrily. "I can hit you from here!

"Guys! Up here!" Everyone looked up toward the roof, where Donald and Sora were standing. Sora was lighting the lanterns with a fire spell.

"What are you doing that for?" Riku asked.

"I don't know! Some weird pink and purple cat said I need to "create light if I want the shadows to come!"" He replied.

"Why the heck would you want the shadows to come?!" Kristen asked angrily.

"You're attracting the Heartless to this world! The shadows are Heartless!" Riku scolded.

"I never thought of it like that . . ." Sora said glumly.

They agreed to meet back at the forest entrance with all of their boxes, and they would just use what they had against the queen.

"Sooo . . . we have a total of four boxes?" Stella asked.

"Yup." Melissa shrugged.

They returned to the courtroom, where the Queen was waiting impatiently.

"Show me your evidence!" The Queen said impatiently.

Sora stepped forward and placed the four boxes down. One more box appeared beside it and they then shuffled around into new positions.

"It will take too long to check them all, so we pick one and decide who is guilty by that." She said.

"Wait! That's not fair!" Donald yelled.

"SILENCE!" The Queen yelled back.

"Uh . . . Melissa . . . go pick a box." Sora said, uncomfortable with the idea of the pressure being thrust upon him.

"Uh-huh! NO-way! You're the Keyblade . . . person! You go pick it!" Melissa said, not liking the idea of having that much pressure on her either.

Sora sighed and walked before the fourth box and tapped it.

"Is that the box you choose?" The Queen boomed.

"Yes ma'am."

"Very well then."

The box popped open to reveal a picture of Donald and Goofy and vanished.

"Cards, attack them!" The queen yelled. A couple cages appeared, trapping Donald, Goofy, Stella, and Kristen.

"Shoot!" Melissa yelled, growling as a tower appeared out of nowhere. "Sora, attack the tower! I'll try to free them!"

"I'll help!" Riku said, running toward the cages. Melissa smiled, happy that she had help. She turned back to check on Sora, who was beating up cards on his way to the tower. She turned back, noticing how he had already let Kristen and Donald loose, leaving Melissa to help Stella as they ran toward the tower to help Sora.

"I thought you would NEVER stop staring at Sora!" Riku teased as he passed Melissa. "Here I thought I was going to have to do this myself!"

"You are sooo lucky I'm busy right now!" Melissa yelled, finally letting Stella out of the cage. "Just don't fall asleep tonight!"

"Didn't know you liked Sora!" Kristen taunted. "I guess Stella has some competition!"

"Shut up, Kristen, or I'll tell him who _you_ stare at!"

"You wouldn't!" Kristen growled as they ran to the tower to finish destroying it.

With the tower broken, Alice's cage came down from where it was held, but there was no Alice. The Queen went into a rage, sending her cards to look for her.

"Where now, Kristen?" Sora asked, and Kristen took out her guidebook.

"To the Bizarre Room, where we first came in. There's an enemy over there."

As they entered the Bizarre Room, the Cheshire Cat appeared, saying "When you turn on a light, a shadow is made. Are you prepared for the worst? If you're not . . . that's too bad!" As he vanished, the boss for the world, Trickmaster, appeared. Melissa laughed to herself as she imagined the dramatic battle music playing.

"This guy is pretty easy!" Kristen yelled while dodging an attack. "Whatever you do, though, don't–"

"Fire!" Donald yelled, catching Trickmaster on fire because he was made of paper.

". . . cast the fire spell." Kristen finished, mouthing "I'm surrounded by idiots" and sighing angrily.

Melissa jumped on the table and onto Trickmaster's head to cover its eyes. "Guess who!" She said, making one of those funny moments where the people playing the game laugh and then constantly repeat the scene to their friends.

Sora swung away at Trickmaster while Kristen ran to a pot of water and threw it at Trickmaster's legs, making it fall over because it was made of paper. Melissa jumped off as Riku and Stella attacked at the same time, making it fly against the wall, releasing little green balls. Goofy picked the little green balls up and threw them at people who needed healing.

"One more time and this guy should be done for!" Stella yelled, jumping up onto the table to strike Trickmaster. This time Trickmaster predicted her attack and swung his arm at her, making her fly into a wall and knocked her unconscious.

"Stella!" Melissa and Kristen yelled, attacking Trickmaster angrily and destroying it. They turned and ran to Stella, where Sora was next to her trying to wake her up. It was only a couple minutes of her being unconscious, but it felt like hours to them.

When she woke up, Sora hugged her immediately. As quickly as he hugged her, he stopped, blushing, saying how glad they were that she was ok. Most of the group had already moved to the doorknob to examine it, and when Stella approached, they all smiled.

"I _can_ read your thoughts, you know!" She said angrily. She stepped toward the door, relieved that Sora was the only one that didn't look at her in the same odd fashion as everyone else.

"Can you really read their thoughts?" Sora whispered.

Stella giggled, "No, but it makes them stop staring, doesn't it?"

Sora backed up and pointed his key at the doorknob, which opened its mouth to expose a keyhole. A light appeared and shone into the keyhole, then the door 'clicked' and the doorknob's mouth closed.

Everyone headed to the Gummi Ship, but Stella, Kristen, and Melissa stayed a little distance away from the rest of the group.

"What was that about?" Melissa asked.

"You saw it." Stella replied. "I think they call that locking a keyhole."

"We're not stupid." Kristen replied, scowling as Stella coughed loudly. "You _know_ what we're talking about."

Stella stared off into space and shrugged, pretending to be stumped. She hoped that they would buy her facade, but they didn't.

"Maybe if I yell really loud, you'll know what we're talking about." Melissa said, opening her mouth and inhaling to get ready to scream.

"Okay! Okay! I don't know what that was about! Everything's that's gone on between us has happened when you guys were around! We haven't been alone, I swear!"

"You can't say you didn't like it." Kristen teased. "'Cause then you would have pushed him away immediately."

"He hugged me for a second!" Stella protested.

"Can't fool us." Kristen and Melissa said in unison.

"We know you like Sora, the 'dibs', remember? And I have a feeling he's starting to feel the same."

Stella looked down, blushing, and didn't resist as her two best friends linked arms with her and ran toward the Gummi Ship.


	4. Chapter 4

Once again the group was on Stella's ship. Even though she had designed it to hold maximum occupancy, it still wasn't enough. Everyone was cranky, and no one seemed to notice that a giant planet with a giant tree was headed their way. Kristen jumped up quickly and grabbed the steering wheel, making them barely avoid the giant tree. Donald, in his anger, accidently hit a button that ejected them from the ship and go spiraling into the planet.

Kristen woke up quickly, surprised that she wasn't in as much pain as she expected. She sighed, suddenly realizing that she had landed in the same tree that they had tried to avoid in the first place. She couldn't think of any insults to give the tree, so she simply called it a froop-a-loop tree, using Melissa's insult. She didn't see anyone around her, so she began climbing the branches, heading to the top with the hope that she might be able to see something.

She smiled, happy that she had practice climbing trees when she was younger back home. She and her sister had climbed the tree in their backyard many times, and She had even cracked up when her sister had fallen from that tree unharmed, but had looked like a stunt dummy on the way down. The thought made her a bit frightened, because she knew she wouldn't survive if she were to fall, and it sent a pang of sorrow into her heart, for they had already gone through two worlds without finding her sister.

When she was about on top, a hand grabbed hers and pulled her up to a wooden platform. She jumped backward from the figure, lifting her hands in a fighting pose.

"Stay back! I'm a master of–"

"A master of what?" Kristen looked up at the voice that had just spoken. She turned bright red, because she knew that she had just embarrassed herself in front of Riku.

"Um. . ." She whispered, unable to come up with a comment.

"It's okay." Riku laughed. "I'm sure you could be good at _something_."

"Hey! That's mean!"

"I'm just kidding."

"Sure you are." Kristen said sarcastically. "And for your information, I'm good at magic. I know every spell and what it is, it's just the performing part that I'm bad at."

"No one's perfect. I'm sure that book tells you a lot of things, right?"

Kristen smiled and nodded. She was happy that he wasn't evil and on the side of the Heartless. They were just laughing, making fun of eachother, and simply talking. She laughed silently, thinking about how she was living the dream of many fangirls back home. They walked into a small building while enjoying each other's company, Riku asking about her home, and Kristen asking about his. In the corner of her eyes, she spotted something.

She growled, because this was probably the only time that she would be able to talk to Riku freely without someone interrupting. Pushing the thoughts outside, she pointed to the door that led outside, and they both snuck up to it. Outside of the door were a number of Heartless, but it was no challenge for Riku and Kristen to demolish them.

"Good job, Kristen!" A figure said from behind them. Kristen recognized that voice immediately, for it was her sister's! Kristen turned quickly, glad to find her sister safe and sound.

"I'm so happy I've found you!" Kristen yelled, running to embrace her twin. "I've looked everywhere for you! I'm sure that Stella and Melissa will be so happy I've found you, too!"

"I can't wait." Amanda said, her voice unenthusiastic.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." She smiled weakly. "I love your clothes." Kristen rolled her eyes as her sister referred to the clothes that her sister wore, a long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve one and a makeshift skirt that was knotted at her waist. Kristen looked at her sister, and noticed that her clothes had changed, too. She wore a dark vest that had a single clip keeping it together and a long tank-top underneath. She also wore black shorts and black fingerless gloves and bracelets.

"Don't say that nothing's wrong." Kristen said. "I'm your twin sister, for heaven's sakes. You can't trick me." Kristen thought and smiled. "Well, maybe it will cheer you up if I show you to Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku (the guy next to me, isn't it obvious?), and even Leon. You'd really like that, right?"

Amanda looked really distressed. "Sorry, sis, but I can't see them yet. The Keyblade Master is there."

Kristen stood there, her mouth agape. She began to become suspicious and worried, thinking the worst. But she had to be sure. "What? Why?"

A shadow appeared from behind Amanda. "Name's Alex, don't forget it. And she can't join you, because she's with me." Alex touched Amanda's shoulder and both disappeared into the darkness.

Riku touched Kristen's shoulder to try to cheer her up, but she couldn't bring forth the will to smile at him. She was confused by Alex's words, and began to hate the guy that she didn't even know. But she hated him for taking her sister from him, and in her silent rage She began to cry. She turned her head away from Riku so he wouldn't see.

They heard footsteps move closer to them. Kristen quickly dried her tears and moved into a fighting stance. They lunged at the enemy, but their attacks were blocked by theirs and vice versa. They looked at their opponents; it was their friends.

Riku explained to the boys what Kristen was explaining to Stella and Melissa, except his version lacked the sniffling and breaks between crying that Kristen's had. She had calmed down after a while, although the time would have been shorter if Stella didn't ask "what's the worst that could happen?" which made Kristen burst into tears.

They eventually moved into a big group, talking about their mini-adventures.

"So what happened to you, Melissa?" Stella asked. "It must have been tough, being out on your own."

"It was no big deal. I beat up a small group of Heartless and I figured that everyone would head toward the tree-house. But you guys beat me here." Melissa shrugged.

"Hey Sora, what happened to you and Stella, then?" Riku asked.

"Nothing really. . ." Stella and Sora both said, beginning to blush.

"Gwarsh, I must've been dreamin', 'cause this is what I 'member: the Heartless knocked out Stella, and Sora almost killed himself worryin' about her. He killed all of those Heartless and made me use a potion on her so she'd wake up. Of course I'd help her, 'cause we're all friends. Anyway, she woke up, and in his arms, too! It was really. . . um . . ." Goofy stuttered, lookign for the right word.

"Romantic!" Donald added, helping Goofy out.

Sora knocked them both in the head and growled. "Thanks a lot, guys!"

"Next on: Stella and Sora's secrets revealed!" Kristen said, holding up a imaginary microphone.

"Watch as we find the origins of the couple _Sorella_." Melissa added, another invisible microphone in her hand.

Sora was neon red with embarrassment, his face almost matching the color of his jumpsuit.

"Wait a second. . ." Kristen said, rubbing her head in the spot where Stella hit her. "Who put in that stupid eject button, anyway?"

"Well. . . I thought it would be useful if our ship was almost destroyed by Heartless, so we could escape." Stella said, shrugging.

"Way to go, Stella." Melissa said, clapping sarcastically. "I think I would rather die in an Gummi Ship explosion that destroys this beautiful ship, than have my head explode because of the pressure in space, having my heart taken away, and _then_ have the beautiful ship destroyed."

Stella looked down in embarrassment, once again taking things way too seriously.

"We're just joking." Melissa laughed, shrugging.

Everyone was laughing and having fun. In all of their merriment, they didn't seem to notice the predator that was lurking behind them. In one quick move, a jaguar, known as Sabor, pounced and attacked Riku from behind, striking his back. Everyone turned to face the beast, drawing their weapons.

"Kristen?" Melissa asked, unsheathing her swords. Kristen nodded and took out her manual from her bag, flipping to the page that Sabor was on.

"It has pretty low HP, it's only 90. He has quick attacks and you have to watch out for him, for when he pounces, it can be brutal." Everyone began attacking Sabor except for Riku, who still seemed to be recovering from his hit. Even though he insisted he was fine, Kristen used a cure spell on him, because she knew that Sabor easily could have killed Riku.

Each person was fast enough to get several strikes at Sabor, and in a matter of minutes, the creature fled. Since there was nothing else in the area, they decided to go sliding down a huge branch that seemed to go down to the ground floor. Occasionally each of them got hit by a branch as they went downward, Stella falling backward and Sora saving her while falling, Melissa dodging the branches easily after getting hit the first time by a branch, and Kristen running into almost every branch imaginable while trying to make fun of the other two.

After a short while going down the branches, they landed in this Campsite where people seemed to be staying and studying. They hadn't been there for more than a couple minutes, when Sabor attacked them again.

"Hey, Riku, it's your pal." Sora teased.

"Hey, Sora, shut up." Riku retorted. "Kristen, this should be as easy as last time, right?"

"Not necessarily, he's a bit stronger now. You should be careful, remember what happened last time."

"Will you all shut up?!"

"Yes, Almighty Riku the Warrior." Melissa said in her 'I'm mocking you' tone while she fake bowed.

In his fierce rage, Riku demolished Sabor. He grinned back at the group. "What was that about 'Almighty Warrior'?" He smirked as Melissa stuck her tongue out at him.

They looked around the campsite, not finding anything. Giving up on their chances of finding anything outside, they moved into a large tent, where there was a woman who seemed very frightened. She told them about a comrade of hers and a Heartless eh was riding, and asked if they could defeat the Heartless and man, so everyone would be safe. They agreed and headed toward the cliff area, where he was last seen.

As they walked out of the tent, it became obvious that Kristen was already confused. "What was the guy's name again?" She asked. "Was it Claynot?"

"No way! It was Laytonc!" Stella argued.

"You guys are so out of it!" Melissa said. "His name was Bob!"

Everyone laughed, stopping immediately when they had come across a Bamboo Thicket and the Heartless monkeys that were jumping around in it. After defeating the large group of Heartless, they were approached by Sabor, who was stronger than he had been the first two times. Still, they managed to defeat it.

"What, no comments?" Riku joked. Everyone ignored him, continuing on toward the Cliff.

It appeared that Clayton, the man that the woman was talking about, was riding on nothing, and shooting at the group. Stella ran up to attack, but was quickly shot back by an invisible force, and hit hard against the canyon wall.

Kristen ran up to her, tossing her a potion as she flipped through her book. "You've never even heard of this area, have you?" Kristen asked as she continued to flip through the pages.

"Nope."

"The thing that just hit you happens to be an invisible chameleon. All we have to do is strike at the thing we can't even see, and when he's dead, Clayton will be an easy target. Oh. . . and Stella?"

"What?"

"Don't pull stupid things like that again." Stella threw the empty potion bottle at Kristen, who somehow managed to dodge it. She then ran toward the group after putting her book away, giving some last-minute advice. "Watch out for the laser eyes, invisible claws, and Clayton's gun shots."

"Right!" Everyone attacked the creature at once. At one point, Donald and Kristen had to resort to constant healing and cure spells, because dodging the large chameleon in a small area wasn't easy. In a matter of minutes, however, the chameleon was dead, and Clayton was their new target. Melissa, Stella, and Kristen stayed behind while the guys chased after and beat Clayton, mostly because they were exhausted and Melissa said that it was good for their pride.

While the girls weren't looking, a huge gorilla threw them over a giant hedge and onto the hard ground. They had to roll out of the way quickly so that they were not the guys' pillow cushions when they were thrown over.

Kristen examined her guidebook, and gave instructions for everyone to follow. They jumped on several platforms, had near misses where they were hanging by their fingertips and needed the others to help save them. They opened a few treasure chests, and finally made it to the Keyhole of the world. The Keyhole was the biggest thing that they had ever seen, looking like a person could fit through it. Still, Sora locked it with his Keyblade, a light shone, and the world was locked.

Once again, they were on the Gummi Ship, fighting over who was going to pilot it. It wasn't long until everyone gave up control to Stella.

Kristen sat in the chair, looking out at the stars as they flew by. She flinched as a cold thought hit her, the thought that she may never see her sister again. But she knew she had friends who would help her no matter what, and that she would ring Alex's neck the moment she saw him. She knew she still had hope.

Smiling, she asked the most obnoxious question that most parents dread: "Are we there yet?"


	5. Chapter 5

Stella looked out the window of the Gummi Ship and sighed. She tried to figure out how they had gotten into the TV and into the Kingdom Hearts World, or how so many things didn't seem to match up. During the whole trip back to Traverse Town, she still could find no answers.

They were going back so they could have Cid examine a small Gummi Block they found. It was going to be a short trip, and no one was really excited to be going back. Once they arrived, the group split up, Donald and Goofy going to get the Gummi Block examined, Sora, Stella, and Melissa going supplies shopping, and Kristen and Riku just walking around.

They had examined a lot of Traverse Town, finding several items, and meeting odd people who were doing odd things. After a while, Kristen suggested that they both go to the Third District.

"I don't know. . . we really shouldn't be holding the rest of the group back. I'm sure by now they're at the Gummi Ship waiting for us." Riku said, thinking.

"But there's a shortcut through the Third District. Even the book says so, and the book doesn't lie." Kristen pointed to the map in the book.

"Yeah, but. . ."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the Guard Armor coming back?" Kristen teased.

"Let's just go, alright?" Riku said angrily, dragging Kristen into the Third District.

As soon as they entered, there was a barrage of Heartless. Kristen and Riku stood back-to-back, Kristen using her magic and resorting to just hitting them when they got too close, and Riku striking as fast as he could. When they were done, they were standing several feet from eachother, and they were exhausted.

"Who's brilliant idea was _this_?" Kristen asked, breathing heavily.

"Yours." Riku replied flatly. He looked at Kristen, and noticed that a Heartless was right behind her, ready to strike. "Kristenཀ Look outཀ"

"Huh?" Kristen said, turning just as the Heartless leaped. It was too late for her to move out of the way, so she stood, frozen.

The Heartless never got it's chance to strike. Before it hit Kristen, it was sliced in two, as was the other Heartless that came in behind it.

"Damn Heartless, picking on my little sister." Kristen looked in shock. There, standing before her, was Amanda, holding a sword that looked like a katana with a moon in the center.

"Amandaཀ" Kristen said in relief. Then what Amanda just said hit her. "I'm not your younger sisterཀ We're ten seconds apartཀ It doesn't countཀ"

"Hey, seconds or minutes, she's still older." Kristen looked up at the figure sitting on the roof who just spoke. It was Alex, and Kristen had the time to notice what he looked like at she glared at him. He was a red-head, with medium-length hair and green eyes. Under both eyes were two black waterdrop shaped tattoos.

"You shut it, Alexཀ" Kristen yelled. "Now get down here so I can kick your buttཀཀ"

"Bring it, twerpཀ"

Kristen growled, and Riku and Amanda struggled to hold her back. "Let. Me. Kill. Him." She said between clenched teeth after giving up escaping from their grasp.

"Calm down, Krissy." Amanda said. "He really means no harm." She sighed. "Are you going to continue your journey through the worlds, beating the Heartless?"

"I was planning on it. I think that it's our best chance of going home."

"What if I said I could get us home now? Would you go with me?"

Kristen sat and thought. "No. I want to help finish this, and I'll go home when the time is right. I want to go home, but. . . I also want to stay here." Kristen turned and smiled at Riku, who smiled back at her softly. "If you would join us. . ." Kristen turned back to Amanda, but stopped when she realized that Amanda wasn't there anymore.

"Kristen?" Riku asked, putting his hand on Kristen's shoulder.

". . ." Kristen was silent, then turned and smiled. "I'm glad she's alright. I know now that she hasn't been consumed by Heartless, and that she's still her normal self. She was never able to stand change, and I understand that she wants to go home. I'm not going to worry anymore, 'cause I know we're going to end up at the same place."

"Alright." Riku smiled and nodded. "Let's go join the rest of the group."

They rejoined the group, who were each eating their own bowl of noodles. Sora handed Riku and Kristen their own bowls, and grinned.

"A guy at a noodle stand saw the Keyblade, and he said he'd give all of my group a bowl of noodles. Pretty cool, huh?"

Everyone nodded and smiled, and after a few bites of noodles, Kristen spoke. "We saw Amanda."

Everyone except Riku looked at her with concern on their faces. Kristen laughed and explained the situation to them.

"What a dork." Melissa commented with a mouthful of noodles. "She has the opportunity of a lifetime, and all she wants to do is go home."

"I understand it." Stella said. "She woke up here, all alone. At least we arrived with eachother. She wants to go home because everything is normal there, and there's no danger."

"She must be with Alex because he was probably there when she first woke up. He probably promised to help find her a way back home." Melissa said.

"Doesn't matter what he's up to." Kristen said angrily. "When she's not paying attention, I'm so wiping the floor with him."

They returned to the Gummi Ship, heading toward their next destination. Stella stared out of the window, once again contemplating the dynamics of how they got there.

"Don't think too hard, you'll hurt yourself." Sora teased, sitting next to her.

"When did you get there?" Stella asked.

"I've been sitting here the whole time."

Stella blushed. She didn't know that she was _that_ out of it. She elbowed him, and in response he poked her in the middle of her forehead. She laughed, swatting his hand away. She heard some giggling from behind her, and turned to face her friends. They were trying to hold back their laughter, and miserably failing at it. She glared at them, which made them laugh even harder. "Death wish" she mouthed, turning around back in her seat.

"They just don't seem to understand our relationship." Sora murmured, placing his hands behind his head and leaning back, closing his eyes.

"What relationship?" Stella asked, giggling as he gave her a fake hurt look and went back into his relaxed position. She turned back to the window and fell asleep.

She suddenly awoke to the sensation of someone shaking her rapidly. She jumped as she realized that Riku as right in front of her face.

"AUGH!!"Stella screamed, jumping in her chair. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry about that." Riku said, leaning on a chair.

"Hey, where's Sora?" Stella asked, looking around.

"I figured you'd ask about him first." Riku smirked. "Everyone else went to go check out the area, to see what must be done to seal the Keyhole. They left me here so you wouldn't wander around alone."

"Bet Kristen didn't like that idea."

"She's the one who recommended it." Riku grimaced, a light shade of pink spreading across his face.

"So you _do_ like her!" Stella exclaimed.

"And you like Sora!" Riku said back. Both blushed.

"Well . . . I won't tell if you don't." Stella whispered.

"Deal."

Both left the ship and looked at the city. It appeared to be in a desert, and Stella noticed how her clothes had changed so she wouldn't suffer from heatstroke. She thought for a moment, and realized that the place reminded her of that one Disney movie, but she couldn't put her finger on which one.

They walked around somewhat aimlessly until someone almost ran them over. They barely managed to jump out of the way.

"Yeah, we weren't walking here!" Stella yelled, waving her arm at the blur that had run past, only to be quickly pulled back by Riku, saving her from being run over by some people she knew.

"Hi Stella! Bye Riku!" One of them yelled, running as fast as she could after the blur. Riku and Stella simply stared dumbly.

"We better go help before your girlfriend hurts someone. . ." Stella said, grinning as she saw Riku blush.

"She's not my. . ."

Stella cut him off. "Not yet, anyway. Now quit it lover-boy before you make me puke."

They ran at full speed after them, and realized that they were chasing after a centipede that seemed to be made of pots. They joined in, attacking the Heartless until it was absolutely annihilated.

"What in the name of cheesy pringles was that thing?" Melissa asked angrily. Everyone except Kristen and Stella stared at her, because they were used to it.

Stella turned and noticed that another guy was with their group. He had dark hair, odd looking-pants, and a monkey on his shoulder.

"Aladdin!" She exclaimed, finally realizing what movie it was.

"Do I know you?" he asked. Melissa and Kristen snickered. Stella looked at them angrily.

"Uh, I have a habit of guessing names, and you look like an Aladdin to me." She turned and blushed in embarrassment, leaving Aladdin wearing a confused expression.

"Back on topic," Melissa said, "what _was_ that?"

"It was the Pot Centipede," Kristen said. "It had Princess Jasmine in it, but . . . she's nowhere to be seen."

Everyone looked around as they heard an evil laugh echo through the city.

"Would someone _please_ explain what's going on?" Stella said angrily.

"Hm, in a short summary. . ." Melissa thought for a moment. "This is Aladdin. He had a magic lamp that had a genie in it. Aladdin used up two wishes saving us and Jasmine, but the lamp was stolen. Now we have to catch Jafar, this evil guy, to save Jasmine and get Aladdin his last wish."

"Sounds. . . complicated." Riku said, thinking.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Kristen smiled. "All we have to do now is go to the Cave of Wonders."

"The what?" Sora asked. Kristen opened her guidebook and gave a simple summary.

"Heartless are controlling the Cave of Wonders. Defeat it. . ." Kristen looked at Sora for a second, appearing as if she was waiting for something.

"What?!" Sora yelled finally. Kristen stopped staring and smiled, continuing to look at the guide.

"I think she thought you were going to ask a dumb question." Stella commented.

Sora smirked. "You sure she doesn't just like me?"

Stella glared at Kristen, who had a look of disgust etched on her face. Riku, on the other hand, was glaring at Sora for even mentioning that. Melissa burst out laughing, and everyone else followed shortly.

Riku looked at Stella for reassurance while everyone else was busy laughing. She shook her head in response, her way of saying "Don't worry, she doesn't like Sora," and he sighed in relief.

They continued their trek to the Cave of Wonders after fits of laughter. Aladdin made the trip easier on them by letting them all ride on his magic carpet, a carpet that seemed to have a mind of its own.

They made it to the Cave of Wonders, where a giant tiger head seemed to be having a fit. It began to attack them, and Melissa jumped on it's head and began attacking.

The tiger quickly became sick of her wailing on its head, and shook her off. Her fall had a cushioned landing, because she fell right on top of Kristen.

"Have I told you lately that you suck?" Kristen murmured, pushing Melissa off. Kristen began looking around and healing anyone who seemed hurt, which was everyone.

When the Heartless finally left the tiger head, everyone was wiped out and Kristen had no magic left. Goofy used a Mega Potion on everyone, and Melissa gave Kristen an Ether.

"Good thing Amanda wasn't here." Kristen said breathlessly. "She would kill us for hurting that poor little sand tiger."

After a couple minutes of rest, they resumed their mission and walked into the Cave of Wonders.

"Doesn't anybody else think it's weird that we're walking in a sand tiger's stomach?" Stella said, beating up a few Heartless that approached them.

It was a long journey to get to the Lamp Room, but they managed without retaining too much damage. In the back of the room they saw Jafar, and hid behind a wall to figure out what he was doing.

"My first wish, Genie! Show me the Keyhole!" Jafar said, the group watching as a Keyhole appeared. Maleficent appeared, and the group couldn't hold back Aladdin anymore, and they followed next to him.

"Are you Maleficent?" Sora asked, growling as Maleficent disappeared.

"Jafar, let Jasmine go!" Aladdin yelled.

"Not a chance." Jafar said, smiling. "You see, she's a princess– one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door."

"Open. . ." Donald said, confused.

". . . the door?" Goofy finished Donald's question.

"But you fools won't live to see what lies beyond it." Jafar held up the lamp. "Gene! My second wish. Crush them!"

"Genie, no!" Aladdin yelled.

Genie appeared and faced them sadly. "Sorry, Al. The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice."

They ran and tried to attack Jafar while dodging Genie's attacks. Melissa had troubles dodging the lightning bolts, and cursed while murmuring that all of Genie's attacks were focused on her.

Somehow the group managed to weaken Jafar, and ran to help out Jasmine.

"Genie!" Jafar yelled, making everyone else turn. "My final wish! I want you to make me an all-powerful genie!"

Everyone grimaced while Genie closed his eyes and granted the wish. A large hole appeared in the floor, and everyone jumped down, determined to defeat Jafar before any more damage was done.

The looked around, jumping back as a red genie-Jafar appeared out of the lava. They were unable to hit Jafar, but Melissa noticed that a small bird was holding a lamp. She ran up and tried to hit the bird, but failed to notice that Jafar was throwing a giant rock. She got hit by it, and slid to the end of the platform, grabbing the edge before she fell off.

"Holy sh–!" She looked down at saw the lava that was inches from her. Her grip began to slip, but Sora grabbed her the second before she fell. He pulled her up while Jafar was distracted with the others, and both sighed in relief. They finished the fight with the others, where Sora finally managed to grab the lamp and send Jafar into his prison.

"Sora! I can't thank you enough for saving me!" Melissa said, embracing him. He patted her back lightly, confusion written all over his face, and she let go.

Aladdin looked up, gasping as he saw Jasmine being taken away. They managed to get out of the hole to try to save her, but she was gone.

Sora shook his head and locked the Keyhole. He jumped back as a rock almost hit him, and looked around as the cave began to collapse.

"We need to get out of here!" he said.

After escaping the cave, the group said their goodbyes and returned to their Gummi Ship, promising to save Jasmine. They knew that it would be a long and hard journey to keep that promise, but they were ready for it.


	6. Chapter 6

1Once again they were on the ship, and everyone was bored. To stave off this boredom, everyone began doing different things. Kristen attempted to figure out where they were, but it only took a few minutes for her to give up on that and to begin skimming through her manual for random information. Melissa began shooting at anything and everything that could be shot at, and began competing once Sora joined her. Goofy began counting their scores so they could determine a winner once they landed. Stella and Donald took turns controlling the ship, Donald driving conservatively to avoid hitting anything and Stella driving as oddly as possible to give Sora and Melissa a bit of a challenge, making everyone else in the ship space-sick. Riku tried to sleep, but he awoke and jumped every time Stella took control of the ship, and gave up after the fifth time of that occurring. Instead, he simply looked out the window.

"What's that?" Riku asked, pointing out the window. Kristen didn't bother looking because she didn't care.

"Cool, a giant whale!" Melissa said, catching a bit of Kristen's attention. "You think I could shoot it?"

"Don't bother." Kristen murmured. "It's a world, and it's going to swallow us shortly."

"Geez." Stella said, looking back at Kristen.

"What?" Kristen murmured, squirming under the uncomfortableness of Stella's stares. She always felt Stella was looking into her soul when she stared at her like that.

"It's just that. . . don't you think this is another chance to see Amanda?"

"Ohmygod,you'reright!Sorasee'sRikuinthegamesoitmakessensethatIwouldseeAmandaandAlexsoIgetanotheropportunitytokickhisbutt!" Kristen said it all in one breath, her mind and mouth going as fast as possible.

"Uh . . . what?" Riku asked, trying to pull apart Kristen's words. Before she could explain, the ship was swallowed by the whale, and everyone blacked out.

_Kristen knew that she was dreaming. She dreamt that she and Amanda were in their living room, joking around and laughing. They began to argue about who was cuter: Riku or Leon, and Kristen had troubles arguing due to the large baguette that she was eating. Even though she had split it with Amanda, it was still huge._

_They began discussing the best way to defeat the final boss in Kingdom Hearts. As Kristen began to talk, Amanda began to fade away and disappear, leaving Kristen all alone in a pitch black room. _

Kristen slowly woke and sat up. She touched her face, which was wet with tears. Quickly she wiped her face with her sleeve, and surveyed the area. She knew she was inside the whale's mouth. There was a boat toward the back, and a cavern even further than that. A small wooden platform separated Kristen from the water, and She tried hard not to think about what the water really was. Small platforms about the same size as the one she stood on were scattered across the water, and she noticed a shadowed figure hop across them.

She followed the figure, moving as fast as she could to close the gap. Several times she almost fell, but managed to avoid that. Once she was across, she ran into the cavern.

Heartless appeared out of nowhere, and it suddenly dawnedupon her that there was no one there to back her up. With her greatest technique out of the picture because Heartless blocked every path out, she resorted to her other strategy and began casting spells as fast as she could. With every Heartless she killed, however, more came up.

It wasn't long before she ran out of magic. She remembered that Melissa had all of the ethers, and knew that running around didn't charge MP. She turned and began hitting every Heartless that approached her with her staff.

"And then there was one." She murmured, turning to look at the final Heartless. It was faster than the others, and her HP was already really low. Still, she faced it off, knowing that a single hit would make the fate of either of them. She charged at it.

"You IDIOT!" someone yelled, striking the Heartless and destroying it. Kristen turned back to see Melissa.

"Oh, hey." Kristen said, healing herself with a cure spell after being given an ether.

"Don't "oh hey" me! You could have gotten killed! What on earth possessed you to leave us and _this_ behind?!" Melissa held up the manual.

"I'll take that." Kristen said, reaching for the guide but missing as Melissa held it out of her reach.

"Uh, no. Not until you tell me what you were doing."

"Yes, momma." Kristen flinched as Melissa hit her in the head. "I thought that maybe I saw someone, and I thought that it might be Amanda."

Melissa shook her head and gave Kristen back the book. "That would have led you to Alex, and you would have been a goner."

"Amanda wouldn't let that happen."

"She's begin controlled by the Heartless in some way." Stella said, appearing behind Melissa. "Alex probably would have told her that you would be fine and would return to our world. And before you say anything against _that_, he would probably do anything to make sure that happens, since you _are_ traveling with two Keyblade Masters."

"Hey, did you guys find that Pinocchio kid?" Riku yelled as he ran in. "Oh, you found Kristen!" He grinned.

"What's going on?" Kristen asked.

Stella and Melissa explained that Pinocchio had found them when they were still unconscious. They had followed him and met his father. But when they turned and looked again, he was following Alex into the cavern. Donald and Goofy had stayed behind to make sure that Geppetto was safe from Heartless.

"Now that we've learned the story, can we _please_ focus and find him?" Riku said, looking on a high platform and through boxes. He and Sora met up at the platform, and both jumped down to where the girls were still standing.

Melissa bent over and laughed.

"What?"

"In the story we're accustomed to, you were the one hiding him. I think you were trying to save Kairi." Melissa smiled.

Sora and Riku looked at eachother, confused. Kristen sighed, she remembered that they hadn't quite explained that everything was a game. It would certainly be a hassle to explain everything.

Sora scratched his head. "And who exactly is Kairi?"

"Your friend. Short red hair, blue eyes. You three always hung out together. Any of this ring a bell?" Stella asked.

"Never heard of her. It was normally just Riku and I, and sometimes Tidus, Wakka, or Selphie." Sora shrugged.

"Damn, her jump rope _hurt_."Riku murmured, rubbing his arm in remembrance.

Kristen, Stella, and Melissa looked at eachother worriedly. If there was no Kairi, who replaced her? And who, and where, was the last princess of heart?

"Your faces are saying that this isn't good . . ." Riku said, looking at them.

"We don't have time for that. . . we still have to worry about Pinocchio." Stella said, shaking her head.

It took a long time for them to begin maneuvering through the caves. When everyone finally admitted that they were lost, they stopped and looked at the map.

Stella looked at her surroundings, and noticed that Pinocchio was hiding behind a box.

"Pinocchio! This is no time for games!" She yelled.

"Come now, who _doesn't_ like games?" Everyone turned to see Alex standing behind him. Pinocchio ran past him into another room. "Or is the Keyblade gang too cool to play them?"

"Hey! Where's my sister?!" Kristen yelled.

"Playing with Pinocchio. If you want to see her, I guess you'll have to play too." Alex turned and ran to follow Pinocchio. They chased after him, and stopped and hid as they saw him talking to Amanda.

"Maleficent said you're using the darkness a lot lately." Amanda said nervously. "She said the Heartless could feed on it and steal your heart away."

"She should mind her own business." Alex said, grinning.

"But. . ."

"Amanda!" Kristen yelled, jumping form where they were hiding.

"Crap!" Alex jumped, casting a fire spell at her. Kristen cast blizzard, which froze the fireball and hit him.

"I am _extremely_ ticked off at you. It I were you, I wouldn't try anything stupid." Kristen glared at him.

"Please calm down, Kristen!" Amanda said, using her body to create a obstacle between Kristen and Alex.

"Why are you with Alex?! We can get all of us home, too! You know the dark side doesn't ever win."

"But it has cookies." Amanda smiled at her joke.

"I'm serious!"

"Well. . ." Before Amanda could answer, she was interrupted by a loud scream. They all ran into the room where the scream came from, only to find a giant Heartless that looked like a cage. Inside of the cage was Pinocchio.

"I am so out of here." Alex said, rolling his eyes. "I have more important business." A dark portal appeared near him.

"Alex!" Amanda scolded. "You're not going to help?!"

"You know where I'll be."

"You're so mean!" Amanda rolled her eyes as Alex disappeared into the darkness. She pulled out her sword and looked at Kristen. "You up for this?" She asked, smiling.

"No problem! Let's do this!" Kristen pulled out the manual while Amanda ran up and charged at it with lightning-fast moves. Everyone charged at it, Kristen using Fira and everyone else hitting it as fast as they could. In a matter of moments, they knew they had Parasite Cage beat.

But the Heartless didn't respond as they expected it to. Instead, it threw Pinocchio into a dark hole, and Amanda chased it. They ran back toward Geppetto's ship, and saw that Alex was up on a higher platform with Pinocchio in his arms. Geppetto was begging for his son back, but Alex ignored him and went into a higher cavern.

Donald and Goofy joined them, and they worked hard to get up to the higher cavern. Kristen pointed at a ledge that was hard to get to, and said that they had to get up there to get to the cavern. Sora and Riku jumped first, clearing the edge easily. Everyone else followed until only Stella and Kristen were left. Kristen hesitated, afraid of falling from the height.

"Come on!" Riku urged. "I promise we'll catch you if you fall!"

"And if not, I bet the water will soften your landing." Goofy added.

Kristen jumped across and held onto the ledge. As she was about to pull herself up, Stella grabbed onto her legs and hung. Before Kristen fell, Sora and Riku grabbed them and helped them up. Kristen murmured her thanks and was about ready to chew Stella out, except that Stella was thanking Sora in a lovey-dovey way, making Kristen gag.

"You know," Melissa started, "that's how you and Riku look."

"Oh, really?" Kristen considered the fact that Melissa could read her mind. "Could you slap me next time?"

"It would be my pleasure."

They ran into the cavern nearby, and saw Pinocchio on the floor. He seemed weak, but quickly returned to consciousness. Kristen looked around for any sign of Alex or Amanda, but found none.

From above struck Parasite Cage, and everyone rolled out of the way. They followed the same strategy as before, and it wasn't long before they destroyed Parasite cage. It fell toward them, and they scrambled to get away.

Pinocchio was returned to his father, and they returned to the Gummi Ship in just enough time to be sneezed out. Kristen began to think about the reasoning behind Amanda being with Alex, but she knew it was going to be a long time before she needed any answer.


	7. Chapter 7

1Melissa sighed, groaning about the world that they currently were hovering over. It was a small, water-encased world that looked like a small aquarium. Everyone else was wondering about how to get in there, she, on the other hand, was wondering about how the water stayed in there.

"I've got it!" Donald yelled, making Melissa jump.

"You got what?" She asked/

"Where have you been for the last ten minutes?" Kristen teased.

"Well, you see, there's a funny story about that. . ."

"Whatever!" Donald yelled. "I'm going to use my magic to transform everyone into something that can breathe underwater.

Everyone looked at him worriedly, then began to think for an alternative.

"Not the best sounding idea . . ." Riku said, thinking, "but it's the best we have."

"Damn straight." Kristen grumbled, not liking the idea of being turned into a sea creature.

"Don't worry, Krissy." Melissa said, trying to sound as comforting as possible.

"I'm sure you'll be a cute little water creature, and Riku wont be able to stop looking at you." Stella teased.

"Will you guys shut up?!" Kristen growled. She sighed. "I'm concerned, because I won't be able to bring the guide. We can't afford for it to become wet."

The girls nodded, and the three of them moved over to where everyone was gathering.

"I'm going to change you into something that fits you." Donald explained. "No complaining." Everyone nodded in unison and they got ready to disembark.

In a flash they were in the icy water of the new world. Melissa shivered, for it was unusually cold. She looked down and realized why, she was a mermaid. Her tail was a deep green and her tank-top was a sea-foam green color and flowed at the bottom. She looked over at her friends. Stella had a lilac colored tail and a white halter top, while Kristen had a pink tail and a pink sleeveless top that tied in the back and had white cherry blossom designs.

Goofy appeared to be a turtle and Donald was a half-Donald half-octopus thing. Sora had a blue dolphin tail and Riku had a black one. Melissa looked at him for a moment and realized that he was practically drooling as he looked toward Kristen. Melissa ran over to tease him.

"You know," she whispered, "you're lucky we're underwater. No one can see you drooling."

He quickly snapped out of his current line of thought–which she was positive she _didn't_ want to know-- and gave her a dirty look. Melissa just smiled, shrugged, and swam away.

"Not funny, Melissa!" He called after her.

"I thought it was." She said without looking back. She swam toward Stella.

"Oh dear, it seems we were right." She said to her in a fake worried tone. "That mean, mean RIku can't keep his eyes off of our poor little Kristen."

Stella shook her head sadly. "What a shame," she looked at Melissa and smiled evilly, "looks like we'll have to get them together now."

"Aw, darn it all." They both started cracking up hysterically.

"What's so funny, you two?" Kristen swam up to the two of them. They shook their heads and She looked at them skeptically. "Anyway, has anyone else noticed that I got the short end of the stick?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Stella asked jokingly.

"I mean, look at this!" Kristen motioned toward her top. "It's so. . . revealing! And embarrassing!"

Melissa and Stella simply laughed. Kristen rolled her eyes and joined the guys, who seemed to be struggling at getting the swimming part down.

"But really," Stella said, smiling, "it's not like it's going to be incredibly hard." They both giggled again and joined the rest of the group.

While they tried to show the others how to swim, a red–headed mermaid and a small fish approached them. Behind her a little red crab called after them, struggling to keep up.

"Ariel, wait! Slow down!" the crab called. He saw the group, yelled, and hid behind the mermaid.

"Relax, Sebastian." Ariel, the mermaid, said. "They don't look like one of them. Right. Flounder?" She looked down at the fish beside her.

"I don't know." The fish tilted his head as he looked at them. "There's something weird about them."

Sora did an odd laugh. "What do you mean?"

Melissa rolled her eyes. "How about the fact that you guys can't swim?" Stella and Kristen began laughing.

"Where are you guys from?" Ariel looked at the girls, who shrugged. "I don't recall seeing you around the palace."

"We're all from pretty far away." Kristen said. "So we're not totally used to these waters."

Melissa rolled her eyes again at the lame joke. "You think that you could teach them to swim?"

Ariel nodded and looked over at Sebastian, who was having a glaring contest with Donald. "Sebastian could show you how we swim around here."

"Ariel, King Triton will not like this!" Sebastian complained.

"Don't worry about it."

The girls sat and watched while Sebastian taught the guys how to swim. In the middle of their lesson, Heartless appeared. Ariel and her friends fled, while everyone else fought and destroyed the Heartless. They followed Ariel.

"Kristen, don't you think it would be sad if dumb old Heartless swam better than you?" Melissa asked, loudly enough so everyone would overhear.

"I certainly would be embarrassed." Kristen replied in the same way Melissa did.

"We can hear you, you know!" Sora growled, defeating a Heartless that chased after them.

"I think that's the point." Stella grinned.

"Hey, I think if we make it to that palace over there, we'll be safe!" Melissa said, pointing to a palace in the distance.

"Well, swim faster!" Donald quacked. "These guys are on our tails!"

They swam as fast as they could to escape the Heartless, but the Heartless were simply faster. As they swam near the palace, the Heartless were blasted away, and everyone sighed in relief.

"That was too close. As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace!" An old merman spoke, holding his large trident close to him.

"Daddy!" Ariel and her friends appeared from behind them, approaching the old merman.

"Oh, Ariel!" The merman looked at his daughter disapprovingly. "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there! Strange creatures lurk outside."

Sebastian coughed. "Behold. You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton."

"And who are they?" King Triton looked at his group, and then his daughter.

"They helped us fight off those creatures." Ariel explained.

"They don't look familiar." King Triton looked each of them over, shaking his head.

"We're kinda from an ocean very far away." Sora explained.

"Yup, we came to find the Keyhole." Goofy said, yelping as a few people clasped their hands over his mouth and smiled at King Triton.

"Will you ever learn?" Kristen whispered. "No one needs to know about that."

"Protecting the world border?" Goofy whispered.

"Order!" Everyone turned to see Sora still talking to the King. King Triton shook his head angrily, and Sora looked disappointed. He then scolded his daughter and made everyone leave.

Outside of the palace, the group began to speak.

"What did King Triton say?" Stella asked.

"He said there was no Keyhole here, but there seemed to be something odd about it." Sora sat and thought.

"Maybe he just doesn't know what a Keyhole is?" Riku said, thinking. "There's one in every world, right?"

Ariel approached them. "Maybe I can help you find what you're looking for?"

"Ariel? Shouldn't you be in the palace?" Kristen scratched her head.

"Don't worry about it. I have a little grotto. Maybe you could find it in there."

They followed Ariel into a small cave that was full of her treasures. Everyone looked around, and Stella couldn't help but laugh when she saw a line of silverware.

"Hey, what's this?" Melissa picked up a small crystal shaped like a trident. "It kinda matched the carving there, don't you think?" She pointed to a carving in the rock of the grotto, and placed it within.

"Ariel, you've disappointed me again!" Everyone turned to see King Triton approaching them angrily. "I told you not to leave the palace!" He lifted the trident and blasted the crystal into pieces.

"Daddy, no! How could you?" Ariel swam away, and King Triton blocked their path, preventing them from following her.

"Young man," King Triton glared at Sora, then at Riku. "You are not from another ocean. You're from another world, aren't you? Then the two of you must be Keybearers."

"How'd you know?" Sora blurted.

"Way to be sly." Melissa grumbled sarcastically.

"You may be able to fool Ariel, but you can't fool me." King Triton said angrily. "You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail. And as a Keybearer, you must know that one does not meddle in the affairs of other worlds."

"Yes, I know, but. . ." Sora stumbled for the right words.

"You have violated this principle. The Keybearer only shatters peace and brings ruin."

"Hey! You don't know what Sora and Riku have done!" Stella yelled defensively. "You're just–mmmph!" Stella struggled as Melissa tried to cover her mouth.

"Let's not get on this guy's bad side, alright? Or do you want to end up like that crystal?" Melissa whispered, scolding Stella.

"I thank you for saving my daughter. But there is no room in my ocean for you or your key." King Triton left, leaving the rest to their thoughts.

"Oh, just ignore him, you guys!" Kristen said. "Heartless disturb the peace, and you _have_ to interfere to bring it back to normality!"

"He's just being sensitive!" Melissa added. "You guys are doing your job just fine!"

Sora and Riku looked at eachother sadly, took a deep breath in unison, then said "You're right!"

"I say we go explain ourselves to the King." Stella said. "I think that he knows where the Keyhole is, and may be more rational when he's not angry." Everyone nodded, and headed toward the palace.

As they drew nearer, they heard Ariel yell. "No, Ursula! I didn't want this!"

"Not good." Sora said.

"Let's hurry."

As they entered the palace they saw a giant octopus lady with two eels swimming around her. She turned to them and smiled. "You're a little late, handsome!" She yelled as she vanished into darkness, the trident in her hands.

They rushed to where Ariel was, and saw her father on the floor in pain. He weakly told them that they had to get the trident back from Ursula. They rushed off to get it, and Ariel insisted that she help.

They swam as fast as they could until they arrived at this dark and creepy area. There seemed to be this dead fish down in the center, and Ariel told them that it was Ursula's lair. They moved toward it but saw no Ursula.

"Come out! You can't run!" Donald yelled.

"Your time has come!" Sebastian added in.

Ursula appeared out of the darkness, anger warping her face. Her two eels appeared beside her, and she began to attack them.

"Kristen! What do we do?" Melissa asked, trying to attack Ursula but unsuccessful because she moved too fast.

"Um. . ." Kristen swam uneasily. "I don't know."

"What does the guide say?!" Riku asked, barely dodging an attack.

"I don't know! It's in the ship!" Kristen yelled, accidently casting a spell at the caldron that lay in the middle. It fizzed and shot something at Ursula, who fell back, stunned. "That's it! We have to take out the caldron first, it's the source of her magical power! Then you have to hit her and wipe her out before it gets back to normal!"

She and Donald began casting as many spells as possible at the caldron while everyone else attacked Ursula. Before another hit was done, her two eels disappeared, and she became even angrier.

"You'll pay for this!" Ursula yelled, holding up the trident. Suddenly, she began to grow and become giant, and everyone swam up toward her face. "You pathetic fools!" She boomed. "I rule the seas now! The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!" She began to attack them, and everyone swam as quickly as possible to avoid her attacks.

"Any idea for a strategy?" Stella asked.

"Don't get eaten?" Kristen replied, flipping out of the way of another attack.

"Works for me."

They attacked as often as they could, avoiding her attacks and spells by hiding behind her head.

"You know, I think she has a big head on her shoulders." Melissa joked, holding onto the crown that she wore.

"You know, that has to be the lamest joke I've ever heard." Riku groaned, holding onto Ursula's hair.

It took a long time to defeat Ursula, but she finally faded into darkness. The trident floated down, and King Triton grabbed it.

Eventually King Triton showed them the Keyhole and Sora locked it. With a sad goodbye to Ariel, they left to the Gummi Ship.

Kristen embraced the guidebook after drying herself off with a towel. "Now you guys know the importance of this book." She said.

"Yeah, yeah." Melissa groaned. "Whatever. Let me enjoy having my legs back. Having fins was fun, but waaay too much trouble."

Everyone laughed, and began coming up with interesting ways to limit the monotony of the trip.


	8. Chapter 8

1"Look! A giant pumpkin!" Kristen squealed as she pointed out the window. "Doesn't that look like fun?"

"I thought you hated Halloween." Stella grumbled, maneuvering the Gummi Ship closer to the world.

"I do. But I have a weapon now, and it's not like it's illegal to hit something that jumps out at you."

"I'm placing my bets that Kristen screams within two minutes of arrival." Melissa sighed, ready to get out of the ship.

"I bet she won't." Riku said, standing next to Melissa.

"Wanna put your Munny where your mouth is?" Melissa grinned.

"200 Munny saying she won't scream within two minutes." Riku said.

"I'm in on that bet." Stella called, parking the ship.

"Good." Melissa said. "Now when Riku loses, the both of us get some profit." Melissa jumped out of the ship into the town, Stella and the others close behind.

"Why did you place that bet?" Kristen asked, stepping out of the ship.

"Cause I believe you." Riku smiled.

"I was being arrogant and idiotic. You shouldn't have done that." Kristen scolded.

"Don't worry about it." Riku patted her on the head. "If it helps, I'll protect you against the ghosts."

"Now _you're_ teasing me!" Kristen growled, then walked to where the rest of the group was.

"Nice clothes." Stella said, pointing out everyone's costumes. Kristen looked down at her clothes, seeing that she was wearing a vampiric outfit. She wore a long-sleeved old-fashioned shirt and black pants. Her hair was tied up in two buns, and she had small black wings. She touched her canine teeth with her tongue, noticing that they were longer and sharper than normal.

"Careful, I'll drink your blood!" Kristen teased, showing off the teeth.

"Don't mess withe the devil." Melissa said, pointing out her red devil costume. She wore a sleeveless red shirt and a layered, torn up skirt. Upon her head were two small red horns, and a She had a slim tail with a pointed edge.

"Are those real?" Stella asked, her tail flicking back and forth. Her outfit comprised of a t-shirt with a loose black tie and dark pants. She had two small cat ears on her head, and her tail was as pitch black as her costume. On her hands were thick black gloves that were cut at the fingertips to reveal long and sharp claws. Her teeth were pointed, too, but weren't as obvious as Kristen's.

Kristen tugged lightly on her teeth. "I think so, they won't come off."

They turned when they heard Riku and Sora start arguing. Donald, dressed as a mummy, and Goofy, dressed as a crazed Frankenstein(or at least that's what they _thought_ he looked like), tried breaking up the two, and it was only then that the girls discovered why the guys were arguing.

Both Sora and Riku were wearing the same thing. They appeared to be dressed as demon-like things, with small wings coming from their backs and dressed in black. An odd looking pumpkin covered one eye, leaving the other shadowed. They had fangs as well, but theirs were on the same obviousness-level as Stella's.

It didn't take long for them to calm down and deal with the fact that they were wearing the same thing, especially since Riku realized that it was only 30 seconds to riches. He began to gloat.

"Get out your Munny, ladies, 'cause I think I've won this bet."

"You haven't won yet, there's still ten seconds."

"Just give him his Munny." Kristen said, walking toward the exit to the place that they stood in. When she was able to see the street, she stopped and screamed. Quickly she ran back to Melissa, and hid behind her, looking at the exit warily.

"I believe you owe us Munny." Melissa grinned. She looked back at Kristen, who was still clinging to her. "What's wrong, Krissy?"

"G-g-g-ghosts!! And giant walking skeletons!! Headed this way!" She ducked behind Melissa as the shadow of a tall and slim figure approached the exit.

The figure stood in the doorway, their only exit. He was really tall, and bone thin. Mostly because that's all he was: bones. He wore a black and white pinstripe jacket with matching slacks. As he got closer Kristen began to shiver and tighten her grip.

"Damn, woman!" Melissa said, finally getting out of Kristen's grip. "You're cutting off circulation! It's only Jack Skellington!"

"S-S-scarier in person." Kristen murmured, her eyes never leaving Jack.

"Are you the one that screamed?" Jack asked, smiling. "That was the best scream I've heard in ages!"

"T-t-thanks?" Kristen said, finally regaining her composure, but with her voice still shaky.

"I suppose you already know my name," Jack said, "but allow me to introduce myself. I am Jack Skellington, otherwise known as the Pumpkin King. Halloween Town is my town. I'm the King of Nightmares and the Master of Terror. If you want chills and terror, you've come to the right place."

"No. Thank. You." Kristen said, turning. "If you guys need me, I'll be in the ship."

Stella rolled her eyes and grabbed Kristen's arm. "No, you wont. First, this might be a chance to see Amanda. Second, this will be good for you."

Kristen whimpered, but stood with the group. Riku sighed and gave Melissa and Stella their Munny.

"Care for double or nothing?" Melissa asked, grinning.

"No thanks." Riku said.

"Hey, this place looks pretty peaceful." Sora said, crossing his arms. "No sign of Heartless."

"Heartless?" Jack asked, then snapped his fingers. Heartless appeared, but did not attack the group. "You mean our puppets?"

"Puppets?!" Melissa shook her head in disbelief. "You were able to control the Heartless?"

"Yes, it was Dr. Finkelstein's experiment." Jack explained. "We have them all over the town, for our Halloween festival. But they're not really scary enough."

"Coulda fooled me." Kristen grumbled, noticing how the Halloween Town ghosts looked all patched up and had a eye hanging out of its socket.

"But I want bone-chilling terror. I think I'll head to Dr. Finkelstein's lab to see if that can be fixed. If you would care to join me?"

"Why not?" Sora shrugged. "Maybe this will help for a solution to the Heartless in other places, too."'

They followed Jack to a small building. It looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie. Stella and Kristen hesitated, making Melissa stop.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Stella said.

"Not you too." Melissa sighed. "The last thing we need is another Kristen."

"I take that personally." Kristen growled. "But I feel it, too. Like something _really_ bad that no one expects, and that is the opposite of what should happen."

"Come on, guys. What could possibly go wrong?" Melissa said, beginning to walk into the building.

"You're just being the devil's advocate!" Kristen called after her, following slowly. Stella laughed and followed, too.

The inside of the building looked more like a horror movie than all of the aspects of the town, combined. Brains were in jars, as were eyeballs and other assorted organs and creatures. Dr. Finkelstein himself was just as creepy. He looked like a zombie and was confined to a wheelchair. Every so often the top of his head would unhinge and he would scratch his brain, making everyone flinch. Jack began to explain his problem.

"I can't get the Heartless to dance with me, or do anything at all. They only come when summoned, but that's it! Perhaps the guiding device was broken in the explosion?"

"Nonsense." Finkelstein said angrily. "My devices are always perfect!"

"Guess his ego's as big as his head." Melissa whispered, making Stella and Kristen giggle.

"I've got it!" Jack exclaimed. "The Heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we could add a heart to this device?" Everyone looked at eachother worriedly, none of them willing to give up their hearts.

"A heart isn't so difficult to make." Finkelstein commented. "Let's get to work."

Jack pulled out a giant book and flipped it open. He pointed his finger at the ingredients and began reading the instructions. "First we need a container with a lock."

"We need the key to this thing, first!" Finkelstein growled. Sora sighed and unlocked the container.

"My! That was amazing!" Jack said excitedly. He turned back to the book and continued reading. "The ingredients for a heart: pulse. Emotion. Terror. Fear. Hope and Despair. Mix them all together, and we have a heart!"

Everyone's jaw dropped as Finkelstein obtained the ingredients from jars and put them into the container.

"How do you get those things into jars?"Riku whispered in disbelief. Melissa shook her head.

Finkelstein pulled a switch, but the Heartless only fell over.

"It failed!" He said in anger. He scratched his brain. "Maybe we're just missing a few ingredients. Let's try adding memory. Sally!" He called, waiting for a response. "Sally! Good-for-nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her! Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down."

Jack nodded, then turned to Sora. "Would you like to join me?" Everyone else nodded, curious about what the memory was. As soon as they left, they were approached by a man who seemed to have one head, but two faces. His sad/worried side faced them.

"Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis! The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!" He said, practically frantic.

"I wonder if our experiment triggered something?" Jack said, shaking his head. "Everything will be fine, mayor. You have nothing to worry about."

They continued through the cemetery, fighting the Heartless that attacked them. Every so often, Kristen would scream if they caught her by surprise, but everyone eventually became used to it. Jack would sometimes pull a prank and surprise her, just to get a scream out of it. When they were deep in the graveyard, a small dog with a glowing nose approached Jack, happy as ever.

"Hey, Zero, have you seen Sally anywhere?" Jack asked. The dog spun around and went behind a rock, where a patched-together woman appeared.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" Sally asked.

"No, everything's going great." Jack said confidently. "We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory."

""Memory"?"Sally asked, thinking. She pulled out a small plant. "Do you mean this?" Jack nodded and she gave the plant to him. "Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe you should try something else? There's still time."

"Nothing could beat what I have planned! Once we give the Heartless a heart, they'll dace just the way I've envisioned! Trust me, you're going to love it!" Sally nodded hesitantly, and followed the others back into town. Before leaving, Melissa paused, thinking she heard a child's laughter. She shook her head, hearing nothing else, and followed the rest back to Halloween Town square.

Jack gave Dr. Finkelstein the memory, who then placed it in the heart container. "It's sure to work this time!" He gleamed. Before he could take it to the machine, however, a small boy slid in front of his chair, making it fall forward and making him drop the heart container. Another little boy then grabbed the container and then both ran away.

Jack patted his leg, calling Zero. He told Zero to follow them, and Zero trailed close behind, and the group followed him. They ran across the cemetery and over a moving bridge. They saw three kids in a walking tub, and followed them. Eventually it led them to a deformed castle, and across a wobbly bridge.

Following Kristen's directions, they worked to get up in the castle, trying hard not to fall off. They wound up in this playroom, where three children held the heart up proudly. Before they could grab it, it was tossed town a chute. The children attacked, but it didn't take long to defeat them. Kristen gave them the instructions to where the heart was, and they entered a room that looked like a torture chamber. Inside was a guy called Oogie Boogie.

"You want it, then come get it!" He swallowed the heart and grinned.

"Hey, give it back, you canvas bag!" Melissa yelled.

Oogie Boogie growled. "Nobody disrespects me! Nobody! Let's see how your heart works!" He called the Heartless, but only a few appeared, making him even angrier. He charged at the group, and they prepared to fight.

"A strategy?" Melissa asked, taking out her swords.

Kristen barely dodged a flying knife. "Avoid sharp things and strike when the moment's right. Then just keep whacking at him."

"Lovely strategy." Stella said, jumping to avoid a blade.

It took a long time of dodging, but they eventually managed to beat up Oogie Boogie. When they did, the seams at his sides began to unravel, and a mass of insects poured from his body.

"You know, that guy really bugged me." Sora smiled. Riku smacked him on the back of the head, but laughed.

They returned to the lab without any problems, and everyone smiled as Jack apologized to Sally for not listening to her.

"Remind you of anyone?" Melissa asked Goofy, smiling. She turned to see Kristen, Stella, Riku, and Sora blushing.

"Let's leave so we don't disturb them, ok?" Kristen said, smiling. She left the room, everyone else following close behind. She hesitated before getting on the Gummi Ship, looking back at the town.

"What's up?"

"I don't think I would mind coming back." She smiled, even as Melissa grumbled and pushed her into the ship.


	9. Chapter 9

1"You know," Kristen began, looking out the window, "these trips are beginning to get monotonous."

"What do you suggest we do?" Riku yawned, stretching in his chair. "It's too small for practice battles."

"Practice battles? That's a dumb idea. We'd wind up wiping eachother out before we even got to the Heartless." Sora commented, sitting on his knees and looking over the back of his chair at Riku.

"You only say it's dumb because I'd wipe the floor with you."

Sora blushed. "You would not!"

"Remember the Islands? I'd always beat you!"

"Well I beat you at the race to name the raft!"

"That was a fluke! You tripped me!"

Melissa sighed, leaning back in her chair. The way Riku and Sora argued was almost the same as how Kristen and Amanda argued. She looked back at Kristen, who was beginning to look gloomy, and supposed that she was thinking the same thing. She tried to think of something that would distract her.

"When we were bored," she began, "we would play games like chopsticks, hangman, or tic-tac-toe."

Sora and Riku looked at her, confused. She laughed.

"You have to be good at math for chopsticks, strategy for tic-tac-toe, and be able to know a large vocabulary for hangman. There's also slide, where you have to be good at concentration."

"That sounds complicated." Sora complained.

"If I can do it, anyone can." Kristen said, smiling. "Sometimes we would just act like idiots or people watch. Or we would play the 'game' (which I just lost by the way) or games that would make others rack their brains trying to figure out how to play." She sighed, rocking slightly side-to-side. "Wanna play 'In the Middle'?" She asked finally.

"How do you play?" Riku asked.

"Well, I have to show you, since it's against the rules to say. But here's a hint: you have to figure out what's in the middle." Everyone nodded, Melissa and Kristen smiled.

"Melissa," She said, "what's in between Riku, that chair, and Donald's fat head?"

"That tile!" Sora said.

"Thank you, Melissa." Kristen said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "But, no. Melissa?"

"Is it, uh, that star?" Melissa said, pointing to something way outside of the three objects.

"Yeah!"

"Wait a sec, that's way outside!! There's no way!" Riku said, crossing his arms.

"I'm telling you, she's right." Kristen said. "But I'll do another. What's in the middle of Goofy, Sora, and myself?"

"How about that star?" Sora said sarcastically. Kristen shook her head.

"The chair!" Stella said. Kristen shook her head again.

"Um, is it Donald?" Riku asked, noticing how Donald was out of the triangle.

"Yup!" Kristen said.

"Oh, and if you're even thinking that it's because it's out of the triangle," Melissa said, smiling, "you're dead wrong."

"Well, then what–" Sora began, but was cut short as the ship rocked harshly. Everyone looked out the window, and saw a small black ball zoom toward them.

"Stella!" Kristen shrieked.

"I see it!! But that first one killed the shields!! Brace for impact!" Sora grabbed the back of Stella's chair, holding her with one arm. Riku grabbed Kristen and braced himself against a wall, while Kristen held onto Melissa tightly. The ship shook violently with another hit.

"This isn't good. . ." Stella said, looking at the screen that blinked red information. "I don't think we'll be able to manage another hit. And the navigation system is impossible to use right now. We're sitting ducks."

Silence filled the ship as each word hung like a death sentence. It couldn't end like this, Melissa thought, they were the good guys, weren't they?

"What is that?" Kristen said, looking out a window. A old-fashioned ship, like the kind that pirates used to use, was sailing toward them quickly. No more black balls flew toward them, but it was obvious that the ship was the culprit. Each held their breath as it drew near. When it was close enough, a think plank of wood stretched between the two ships, and a man covered in red old-fashioned clothing stood at the end.

"Come on out, or we blow you to bits!" He yelled, and the group could do nothing but follow the instructions. They followed him, surrounded by pirate Heartless, until they were close to the captains room. They were caught, and each looked down in disappointment.

Kristen sighed, it wasn't supposed to end this way. She would have looked at her guide, which she had stashed in her bag before they left, but she knew that it could end in trouble. Behind her she heard the others yell, and turned to see them fall down a trap door.

"What?!" She gasped and tried to follow, but the door snapped shut.

"Good to see you again." She turned to the owner of that hated voice. Alex stood on a platform above her, Amanda close behind. "We were on bad terms last time."

"What makes you think that's changed?" Kristen growled, gripping the staff tightly. She took a step forward, only to be blocked by the pirate captain.

"Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel." Kristen looked at him angrily, but looked around. She was badly outnumbered by Heartless, and she had learned her lesson from Monstro. There was still that hope that her friends were still ok, and she hung onto it tightly.

"I'm here to extend an offer." Alex said, smiling. "Wanna hear me out?"

"Speak fast." Kristen was irritated, but she knew she would have to listen to him anyway.

"If you join us and help us defeat the Keyblade Masters, we'll get you home. Think about it, you don't even know if your current plan will work."

"And you know yours will?"

"Certainly better than what you've got planned."

"And what about my friends?"

Amanda stepped forward. "Melissa and Stella can join us too."

Kristen shook her head. "I'm sorry. I can't turn my back on any of my friends, and the Keyblade Masters happen to be my friends, too. I thought you would be able to understand that, Amanda." Amanda turned her head. "Why can't you help me?"

Amanda sighed and looked Kristen straight in the eyes. "My reason is the same as yours."

Kristen stood straight. "Fine. I'll see you at the finish line."

"I'll be waiting."

Kristen and Amanda looked at eachother firmly, each set in their own belief. Alex smiled.

"You know, it seems kinda unfair that you have so many on your side, and there's only two of us. Let's even the playing field." He snapped, and a shadow appeared from the floor. For a second it looked like Kristen, with glowing yellow eyes piercing straight through her, but then it reverted into a shadowy Sora. Kristen winced and took a step back, only to lose her balance on the ledge of a gaping hole that hadn't been there before.

Amanda stepped toward her, smiling. "By the way," she said, moving closer, "nice wings." She then tapped Kristen lightly, making her fall down into the hole.

"Hey, did anyone see Kristen?" Melissa asked, dusting off her clothes.

"No." Riku grumbled. "I think she stayed up with her sister to 'chat'. Who knows what they're saying up there."

"I have an idea." Stella said, shaking her head.

"What's–" Suddenly something fell on Riku, making him fall to the ground.

"Ow~" It said. When the light adjusted, they could tell it was Kristen. "Remind me to kill my sister when we're done with this."

"What happened?" Melissa asked, running over to make sure her friend wasn't too injured.

Kristen explained everything as well as she could, adding a little bit of emotional flair and details.

"So they offered to allow us to join them and take us back home? Even though we've been against them the whole time?" Stella looked confused.

"Should I have said yes?" Kristen asked, shaking her head. She knew that was wrong, but she cared for her friends, their opinions, and their safety.

"Hell no! I'm tellin' ya, we're gonna bring Amanda to our side kicking and screaming!" Melissa said, crossing her arms.

Sora sighed. "But this isn't your fight."

"Of course it is." Stella said. "The three of us agree: you're our friends, and you're as important in our hearts as any other. And if you need help–which you so desperately do– then we're here for you."

Everyone smiled.

"You know," Riku grumbled, "as touching as this is, could you _please_ get off of me?"

Kristen blushed and suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Riku jumped up, looking around, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Kristen!!" Everyone called.

"Don't yell!!" Kristen's voice called. They turned to the sound of the voice, seeing a mini-Kristen fluttering her little fairy wings and glowing a soft pink. She was about the size of a pen, and flew over and rested on Riku's shoulder.

"I guess these things do come in handy." She said, fluttering the small wings to emphasize her meaning. Riku plucked her off of his shoulder and held her in the palm of his hand, examining her closely. Besides the smallness and the pink glow, she looked exactly as she had as when they entered, with a white sleeveless layered tank top and a layered skirt.

"How did you do that?" He asked.

"I just. . . got flustered and wanted to be really small. Then this happened. The flying part's easy, I just decide where I want to go, and I go." She smiled.

He looked over at Melissa and Stella. Melissa, who was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a denim skirt had angel wings, while Stella, who was wearing a dark long-sleeved shirt and denim capris had devil wings. He assumed that only the ones with wings could shrink, and asked them if they could try.

Easily they became as small as Kristen was, and flew over to rest in Riku's hand. Stella seemed to glow a light purple, while Melissa glowed a light green.

"So where exactly are we?" Kristen asked, looking around.

"It looks like a brig to me." Melissa mumbled. "We're their prisoners."

Stella shook her head. "You two are a bunch of knuckleheads! See the iron bars? We can fit through them now; we're small!" She pointed to the iron door that Sora was leaning against, and the small window that was close to the top.

"You're right! We'll fit thorough and find the keys!" Melissa nodded, and the three flew up to the window. Stella fit through first, then Melissa, and finally Kristen. Riku and Sora looked through the bars to keep an eye on them.

They separated and looked up and down the hall for the keys. It was only a matter of minutes when Stella began fluttering back, carrying keys twice her size. Exhaustion seemed to settle in quickly, and she rested on the floor, sitting on the keys.

"These are too heavy for my size." She complained. "There's no way we can get the energy to lift these _and_ unlock it." Suddenly the keys were lifted, with Stella clinging to one for dear life.

Melissa held the keys, now back to her normal size. "Don't be silly. If we can change to be small, what makes you think we can't reverse it?" Kristen fluttered and helped Stella, then both sat on her shoulder. Melissa shook her head, then went to the door, unlocking it. Once it was open, Kristen flew to sit on Riku's shoulder and Stella moved to sit on Sora's. Melissa moved to her normal size, then sat on the top of Goofy's hat.

A small yellow glow flew quickly by them, circling around a barrel. From the barrel spring a young boy, clad in green and wearing an odd hat.

"How'd you guys do that? I'm sure Tink can't do that." He said, pointing at the yellow glow. At a closer inspection it became obvious that the glow was a small fairy with golden hair and had the same kind of wings as Kristen did. She wore a small green dress, and seemed to emanate a strong personality.

"Who are you?" Goofy asked.

"I'm the answer to your prayers," the young man said, "at least if you want to get out of here."

"I think we're doing fine, thanks." Melissa said, crossing her arms.

"Whatever you say." The young man shrugged, and turned to talk to the golden-haired fairy. She didn't appear to say anything, but he seemed to respond like she had. "Tinker Bell, what took so long? Oh, you found Wendy? Great! Hey, are you crazy? There is no way I'm going to leave Wendy here!"

"I think she's jealous." Kristen teased, ignoring the face Tinker Bell made.

"So who are you?" Sora asked, scratching his head.

"I'm Peter Pan." The young man stood proudly. Sora and the group introduced themselves, but he seemed a bit distant. "So we're in this together." He finally said. "But only until we find Wendy."

They began to walk through the ship, fighting any Heartless that appeared along the way. Well, only Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy walked. Peter Pan flew, Kristen cast spells from where she sat, and Melissa and Stella didn't seem to have any problem beating up Heartless even when small.

After beating the Heartless into oblivion in their current room, they began to talk, trying to soften Peter's mood.

"How come you can fly?" Goofy had asked.

"Anyone can fly. I'm surprised your pixie friends haven't told you. But. . . they do seem a little odd to be normal pixies. . ."

"Say that again?!" Kristen fumed, but Peter ignored her.

"Well, do you wanna try?" Peter whistled, and Tink came, crossing her arms. "Aw, haven't you cooled off yet, Tink?" He grabbed her lightly by her wings and shook her, spreading sparkling dust all over them. "Just a little bit of pixie dust. Then you can fly."

Donald immediately tried to fly, but only wound up falling on his face. Everyone laughed, and continued onto the next room.

As they entered, Tinker Bell flew in circles, trying to relay a message. Peter looked at her, confused.

"What is it, Tink?"

"Peter? Peter Pan?" They looked up to the source of the voice, seeing a young girl a floor above them, a small grate the only thing between them.

"Wendy!" Peter looked happy.

"Please hurry! The pirates are coming!" She looked to the side, and there was a _click_ as the door opened.

"What! I'll be right up there! Just hold on!" They saw as pirate Heartless appeared and approached Wendy.

"I'll help her!" Kristen flew off of Riku's shoulder and up to the gate, only to be hit by a sword and flung right back through. Sora caught her before she hit the floor. She shook her head angrily, and Stella laughed.

"Gotta say, that wasn't one your best ploys." Stella teased.

"I forgot I was small." Kristen grumbled, fluttering her wings angrily. "And once I kill those Heartless, you are so next on my list."

Riku laughed. "Until that comes, why don't you just sit on my shoulder?" Kristen reluctantly flew back, embarrassed.

"I know where they're headed." She said. "The best route is through the Captain's Quarters and to the deck."

They ran to the door that led to the Captain's Quarters, only to come face-to-face with Alex. He grinned.

"You're a fly now, Kristen? Gotta say, that's a lot more appropriate."

Kristen fluttered her wings angrily and charged at him, only to be stopped by Riku grabbing her wings. "Let me at him! I may be small, but I'll still wring his neck!!"

"Good luck." Alex turned and headed out the door, the dark shadow Sora appearing and blocking their path.

"What _is_ that?!" Donald quacked, jumping back.

"Alex made it! It's a Heartless or shadow Sora!" Kristen said. "It's like Sora, but without having to see his face."

"You're funny." Sora said sarcastically, barely avoiding the shadow Sora's strike.

"So it's like Sora?" Riku asked, pulling out his Keyblade. "I guess I finally get to beat up Sora!"

Everyone charged and attacked the shadow Sora, but it was much faster and more skilled than Sora, making contact difficult. Eventually they managed to destroy it, but not without much effort. Wendy appeared on the floor, unconscious, and Peter ran to her.

"Wendy!" He said, picking her up gently. Tinker Bell tugged on his hat, urging him forward. "Come on, Tink! Not now!" Tinker Bell looked at him angrily and left the room, looking dejected. Peter shook his head. "This is as far as I can go. I've gotta help Wendy." He flew off into another room, leaving the group to themselves.

Without hesitation, they left the room and moved onto the deck. The captain of the ship seemed to be talking to his subordinate.

"Quite a codfish, that Alex–taking his girl and running off without even saying goodbye." the captain complained.

"Where'd they go?" Kristen yelled.

The captain turned, smiling. "To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resides. But you won't even think of going there. . ." He lifted up a small container, where Tinker Bell was trapped inside, ". . . unless you intend to leave your little pixie friend behind?"

Everyone unarmed themselves, no one wanting any harm to come to Tinker Bell. Pirate Heartless surrounded them, and they backed away. Due to a crocodile coming near, the captain was scared senseless, and hid in his room, leaving the dirty work to his subordinate. Sora was ordered to walk the plank, and Heartless blocked his escape. With Peter's help, he managed to fly, they saved Tinker Bell, and defeated the Heartless that were in the way.

With the Heartless out of the way, everyone hid and Peter moved to the captain's door, imitating his subordinate's voice. The captain came out eagerly, only to be stabbed in the back by Peter. The captain, enraged by his failed plan, attacked them, only to be defeated easily. He fell off the ship, and ran across water to escape the crocodile.

Peter took control of the ship, and began heading to a clock tower because Tinker Bell told him something was there. During that time, the group began to talk again.

"You like flying?" Melissa asked, fluttering her wings softly.

"It was, amazing." Sora said. "No wonder you guys stayed in that form."

"I'm sure no one on the island would believe we flew." Riku commented, crossing his arms.

Kristen hopped on top of his head, tugging lightly on his hair. "Of course they will, we'll help tell them."

"You think they'd believe _us_?" Stella laughed.

"Of course." Kristen smiled. "Well, me at least. I cannot tell a lie."

"Who are you, George Washington?" Melissa joked. "Besides, you just told a huge one."

Kristen chased Melissa around the ship, and everyone laughed, especially since Kristen wasn't fast enough to catch Melissa.

Alex fell to the floor, breathing heavily and unsteadily. Amanda stayed by his side, her hand on his back.

"Alex!" She said breathlessly, concern cracking her voice. "You should have let me help! I could at least accept some darkness, at least so you don't have to take it all on your own!"

"No!" Alex protested, shaking his head. "I don't want . . . the chance of the darkness controlling you. It's too much . . .of a risk."

"The girl has a point." Maleficent said, shaking her head. "You shouldn't have ferried the two of you without a vessel. Remember, relying to heavily on the dark powers can cost you your heart."

Alex shook his head, tilting it as a powerful roar echoed throughout the castle. Maleficent smiled, sending a chill down Amanda's spine.

"Even though his world vanished, his heart did not. But don't concern yourself, he's no match for your power."

"My power?" Alex's eyes gleamed with curiosity. A green light enveloped him, making Amanda take a step back.

"Your potential is infinite. It's time you tapped more of your power."

At the Clock Tower, Sora locked the keyhole for the world, noticing that it was hidden within the clock. After watching a touching reunion between Wendy and Peter, the group left, not wanting to interfere any more than it already had.

"Gotta say, it _does_ feel better being normal size and on the ground." Kristen said, relaxing.

Stella maneuvered the Gummi Ship around a large asteroid. "Yes, but I'm going to miss flying."

"You think we can convince anyone back home that we actually flew?" Melissa asked, leaning back to look at her friends.

"I don't think we'd even be able to convince them that this is real." Kristen groaned. "They'll send us to an asylum."

"Well, you have us to help out." Riku offered. The girls looked at him, then at eachother sadly. Even though he tried to figure out what it was that he said wrong, they refused to tell him. How would they be able to explain that none of it was real?


	10. Chapter 10

1Everyone looked out the windows of the Gummi at the world below. It was dark and eerie, but it seemed to draw everyone in.

"There it is." Stella whispered. The scene made everyone's voices quieter, as if each had a feeling that everything might shatter if they spoke any louder.

"In there. . ." Riku said, exhaling softly, "everything will begin to draw to an end. I can feel it."

Melissa shook her head. "We can't stand here any longer. We have to finish this."

Everyone nodded, and jumped out of the ship into Hollow Bastion.

They wound up in an area surrounded by waterfalls. Platforms seemed to be the only way to continue, and wound toward the castle in the distance. As they continued to jump platforms, they suddenly were halted by the scene of Alex beating up a large man-beast. The man-beast fell to the floor, and Amanda grabbed Alex's arm before he could perform the final blow.

"Alex, please. We have to find the last Princess of Heart. He's not it." She looked at him imploringly, and he dropped his arm.

"He was in my way. And we know she's somewhere here." He shook his head, then looked up to see Sora and the group standing there, dumbfounded. He smiled. "Come on, she's probably somewhere in the castle." They jumped up platforms, quickly vanishing from sight.

Kristen growled, and turned to the fallen Beast. Quickly she examined him and cast a healing spell, and he stood quickly.

"I am here to fight for Belle. Even though we're on our own, I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here." He looked at them, and began to walk.

"Wait!" Sora called. "I think we're headed toward the same goal. At least we can work together." The Beast nodded, and assisted them in crossing the platforms.

They wandered through the beaten-up castle, fighting every Heartless along the way. Beast was, well, a Beast in battle, and made destroying the Heartless mostly hassle-free. They began to walk into a large room, and Beast stopped suddenly, looking around.

"They're close. I can feel it." He turned to look around, but stopped in his tracks as he saw a young lady standing in a doorway. He ran toward her. "Belle!" And became enraged as she turned into a Heartless. The door slammed behind him, separating him form the group.

"Sooo glad you could join us." Alex said sarcastically, sitting on a ledge. He jumped down and stood before the group, but Amanda stayed behind, leaning on the ledge. Alex looked up at her, but didn't seem to mind. "How about you just give up?"

"How about you just find a cliff to jump off of?" Kristen retorted.

"Ouch. Now _that_ hurt." He sighed, and darkness enveloped him. When the darkness faded, he stood, his outfit changed. His entire clothing was dark and had a Heartless-theme, although something did seem weird about it.

"I would never be able to pull it off," Melissa began, pointing at the hula-skirt-belt-thing he was wearing, "but I gotta say, you can make that skirt work."

"Shut up!" Alex said darkly. "Give up now, or the darkness will swallow you."

"Not a chance." Sora took a step forward. "The darkness will never be able to touch our hearts."

"Heh, let's just see about that!" Alex extended his hand in Sora's direction, and a beam of darkness shot out at him.

In just enough time, Stella pushed Sora out of the way, landing right on top of him as they both fell. The darkness took a chunk out of the wall, and both sighed in relief.

"Please don't so such stupid things." She murmured, jumping back up to stand.

"Look, your friends don't even trust your words." Alex smirked. "How pathetic."

"No, it is my friends that make my words true!" Sora said.

Alex laughed a long, cruel laugh. "Then let's put them to the test." He grabbed out two chakrams from the darkness, silver circles with knives located all around the outer edge. He charged, moving faster than any of them could have anticipated. At some points the outcome looked grim, but they still managed to beat him into submission.

Darkness dissolved from his outfit, turning back into his normal clothes. He breathed heavily, and looked back up at the ledge. Amanda was no longer there. Suddenly he jumped up on the ledge and ran through the door.

"Come on!" Melissa yelled. "We gotta follow him! Right, Kristen?"

Kristen hesitated. "Something. . . doesn't feel right." She looked down, holding her hand to her chest.

"Are you hurt?" Riku asked. She shook her head in response. "So what's wrong?"

She sighed. "It's nothing physical." She looked over at her friends, who were looking at her with concern. "I just feel. . . this huge sense of dread. And that. . . something is really wrong."

Melissa grabbed Kristen's shoulders and made her look at her in the eyes. "Whatever it is, we'll handle it. Got that?" Kristen smiled and nodded.

Alex looked around worriedly, running down the hall, calling Amanda's name. She hadn't responded, which was unusual for her, and was making him more and more troubled. But he was running out of strength, and suddenly fell to the floor. That battle had taken a larger toll than he had anticipated, and his heart felt like it was ready to burst.

"Amanda. . . where are you?" He whispered.

"She is no longer awake." Alex turned to the dark voice that spoke. It was a cloaked man, enshrouded in darkness.

"What do you mean?"

"See for yourself." The man waved his hand, and darkness gathered in a condensed area. As it dissipated, Amanda appeared, lying on the floor, unmoved.

"No!"

"As I'm sure you are aware, she has lost her heart to the darkness. Whilst you were distracted, they took it away. What a shame. . ."

Alex bent by her side, at a loss for words. He looked up at the cloaked man angrily. "What do you care?"

"She needs her heart. Kingdom Hearts cannot open without her. If you were to become stronger, you could retrieve it."

"You mean she's. . ." Alex thought for a second. "How do I become stronger?"

"It's really quite simple. Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself."

Alex looked at the man dubiously, but a green light began to surround him.

He began to walk down the dark hallways and toward the chapel, Amanda in his arms. Maleficent was looking at the Keyhole, and he sat Amanda down and stood beside the dark witch.

"We cannot open Kingdom Hearts without the last princess." She said, looking at Alex.

"She has been found." Alex said bluntly, turning toward Amanda.

"It was Amanda?" Maleficent looked confused, but smiled. "But now we can open it."

"Her heart was taken." He turned and saw the Keyblade Master and his friends enter. A smile began to grow.

Kristen's heart dropped as soon as she entered the room. Alex's words were like sharp blades. "Her . . . heart?"

Alex turned, but something seemed different about him. "Yes, her heart. Without it we are unable to open Kingdom Hearts."

"Is that all she is to you?!" Kristen cussed at him angrily. "You *$%^&!! She trusted you!" Riku held her arm firmly, keeping her from moving.

"Don't." He whispered, glaring at Alex. "Something's weird about him."

Alex looked at them, a large smirk crossing his face. A keyblade appeared from the darkness.

"Is that. . .?" Stella took a step forward. "That's a Keyblade."

"But it's. . . impossible. Only Riku and Sora can. . ." Melissa looked at Alex curiously.

"Nothing is as it seems, now is it?" Alex said. "This Keyblade has the ability to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate. . ." He struck Maleficent with the Keyblade, and darkness began to devour her until nothing was left. He grinned. "How ironic. She was just another puppet after all."

"What?" Everyone seemed to be filled with disbelief. Already Goofy and Donald had drawn their weapons, both unsure of the future ahead.

"The Heartless were using her from the beginning. She failed to notice it slowly eating at her. A fitting end for such a fool."

"A foolishly foolish fool doing foolishly foolish things?" Melissa asked, drawing her swords.

Kristen elbowed her in the ribs. "Now's not the time. We have to help Amanda."

They tried to go toward her, but both she and Alex disappeared into the darkness. Without hesitation they ran into the next room, a dark room filled with containers on the sides and a large keyhole in the back. Amanda lay on the floor in front of the Keyhole.

"Amanda!" Kristen ran to her sister's side, trying to shake her awake. She choked back a sob. "It's really. . . she's. . ." Kristen shook her head and shook her sister's shoulders. "Open your eyes, Amanda!! Please!!"

"It's no use. She's lost her heart. She cannot wake up." Alex appeared from behind the group.

"Wait." Riku stood between Alex and Kristen. "You're not Alex. . . you're filled with darkness."

Alex smiled. "The Keyhole cannot be completed as long as the last princess of heart still sleeps."

"Amanda's a princess? But that's impossible!" Kristen embraced her sister, glaring at Alex.

"Is it now?" He crossed his arms, the smirk on his face becoming more and more self-satisfactory. Kristen looked at her friends worriedly, but she knew it made sense.

"Well, whoever you are, I think you should give Alex back his heart!" Melissa said.

"We might not like _him_, but we like you even less!" Stella agreed.

Alex chuckled evilly. "First, you must give the princess her heart." He pointed the Keyblade at Kristen, and she held her chest in pain.

"Kristen!" Riku went by her side, checking to see if she was alright. She nodded softly, still stunned.

"Don't you understand? You have her heart. She is a part of you."

Kristen looked up at him angrily. "Who are you?"

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness." He began to walk toward Kristen, deftly dodging Riku as he tried to attack. Kristen stood, and, in a matter of seconds, Ansem stood only a couple of feet away. "So, I shall release you now, Princess." He rose his sword, but hesitated.

"I wont let you have her!" Kristen growled, drawing her staff.

Ansem turned, looking at Sora. "No. . . it is you who will be able to release her heart from within her sister. Your heart is the only thing that binds it there." He quickly moved toward Sora, who blocked the attack.

"We're not gonna let you have it!" Sora said, striking back. Ansem's face twisted, and he charged at the group. Quickly he was beaten into submission, and fled, dropping the Keyblade as he left. Sora tried to chase after him, but there was nowhere to go. The ground began to shake, and darkness began to appear out of the Keyhole.

"Sora!" Melissa pointed at the Keyhole. Sora nodded and moved to lock it, but nothing happened.

"It's not. . . finished yet." Goofy said, shaking his head.

"What can we do?" Donald asked.

"Maybe we have to wake Amanda up?" Riku suggested. Kristen nodded.

Sora began walking, and picked up the Keyblade that Alex had dropped. He thought for a second, then pointed it at himself.

"Sora, no!" Stella ran to him, holding the Keyblade back.

"We have to release Amanda!" Sora protested. "This is the only way!"

"But-!" Sora pulled out of Stella's grasp and plunged the Keyblade into his heart. The Keyblade vanished into light, and Sora began to fall, small lights flowing away from him as he began to fade. "Sora!" Stella tried to grab him, but all she managed to grasp were a few lights.

She turned to look at Kristen, who was glowing softly. The glow then transferred to her sister, who woke with a start. She began to glow with the other princesses, and the keyhole resonated with them. It faded, and darkness began to pour out of the Keyhole.

Donald called into the air for Sora. "Sora! Come back, Sora!" But there was no response.

"Sora. . ." Stella clung her arms to her chest. "He can't be gone! I can still feel him!" Her friends went to her side, trying to comfort her as she chocked back tears.

"So you have awakened, Princess." They turned to see Ansem appear from the darkness, no longer in the disguise as Alex. "The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it is over."

"Don't make another move!" Donald stood in front of them, protecting him. Riku and Goofy joined him, all prepared to fight.

"Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?" Goofy whispered.

"I don't know, but we have to try, right?" Riku looked at the two, who nodded.

The group of girls sat there breathlessly.

"Shouldn't Riku also be able to close the Keyhole?" Amanda asked, standing and drawing her weapon.

"I don't think so." Melissa said, joining her.

"Sora was the only one who could." Kristen said, taking a step back.

Ansem simpered, knowing that he had won the battle. Before he could attack, he stopped, as if some invisible force held him back. "Impossible." He whispered, paralyzed.

Alex appeared in a golden glow before Ansem. "I refuse to be used like this!"

"Foolish boy." Ansem sneered, and Alex breathed heavily as she strained to keep Ansem back.

"Alex!" Amanda took a step forward, but Heartless blocked her path. "Get out of my way!" She tried to attack them, but the sheer numbers made her take a step back.

Alex smiled. "Amanda. . . I'm glad you're ok. But you have to leave now!"

"What about you?!"

"I can feel myself. . . fading into darkness. I wont be here long." He shook his head. "But my heart will always be with you." His image flickered, a sign that Ansem was beginning to take control again.

"Alex!"

"You have to leave! I can't hold them much longer!"

Hesitantly Riku pulled on Kristen's arm, and she nodded. While everyone else began to run to escape the Heartless, Kristen pulled Amanda away and both ran to the door. Amanda looked back, but there was no longer any sign of Alex.

They ran into another room, trying to fend Heartless away. Kristen had fallen back, breathless, and everyone else was beginning to be overcome with exhaustion. They had finally managed to fend away the Heartless, and everyone rested for a moment to catch their breath.

"What about the Keyhole?" Amanda asked, leaning against a statue.

"I don't know!" Kristen said, refusing to look at the guide anymore. So many things had changed, and she wondered if they were really doomed to fail.

Everyone sighed, trying to take in everything that had happened. Kristen noticed that a Heartless was approaching them slowly, and she glared at it. Donald ran up and smacked it with is staff.

"Get lost you confounded Heartless!" Donald yelled. But the Heartless refused to attack or escape, it just stood there.

Stella pushed Donald out of the way and looked down at the Heartless. She bent down, and titled her head as it looked at her. "Sora? Is that you?"

"It is!" Amanda said, drawing her weapon as more Heartless began to infiltrate the room. "I can feel it!"

They became overcome with Heartless. No one had anymore strength to fight, and the darkness surrounded them.

"Sora!" Stella hugged the Heartless tightly, flinching as the Heartless engulfed them.

A bright light engulfed the room, and every Heartless vanished. Suddenly Stella was holding onto Sora, who was hugging her back.

"Thank you." Sora whispered, hugging her tightly.

"Sora!" Everyone looked back at him happily, hope beginning to be restored..

More Heartless began to appear and the group looked at them with despair. Their salvation came with Beast as he tore through the Heartless and demolished them. They ran back to the Keyhole, but it was engulfed in darkness.

"What now?" Sora asked, looking around.

"Hey, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel!" Kristen encouraged. "It's gotta be in there!"

Amanda shook her head. "No, there's light in any darkness. It _is_ in there."

Everyone nodded, and ran into the hole. There was a large monster, but they worked together to defeat it. Beyond that was the keyhole, and Sora locked it, making the darkness stop immediately. As they left, they saw Leon and his friends there.

Leon looked at Amanda, shocked. "You!"

Amanda laughed weakly. "How ya doin?"

"You know her?" Yuffie asked.

"_She's_ the one who made me think that those girls were Heartless." Leon growled.

"Ohh." Yuffie smiled. "So she's the one that beat you!" Yuffie didn't seem to notice the invisible insult knives that were stabbing Leon, making him more and more angry.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Amanda scratched her head.

The group talked for a little bit, spending part of the time congratulating Sora. They learned that if they defeated the Heartless and sealed Kingdom Hearts, the worlds would become disconnected, and they would probably never meet again.

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget eachother." Leon had said.

"I'm certain our hearts will bring us together again." Aerith encouraged.

"Besides, I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to." Yuffie teased.

Everyone nodded and said their farewells, and the group went onto the Gummi Ship, headed for the dark world ahead of them. Amanda looked out the window in a daze.

"We'll find Alex again, I promise." Kristen said to her sister, smiling softly.

Amanda nodded, and looked at the darkness. "Out there. . . is all that's left of the worlds due to Heartless."

Riku smiled and looked out the same window. "So let's beat up some Heartless and restore things to the way it should be."

The group smiled and laughed, but none of it seemed to reach their hearts. Nevertheless, they had to finish what Ansem had begun.


	11. Chapter 11

1Everything seemed to be in chaos. Here and there were small chunks of destroyed worlds, and they fought monster Heartless along the way. Eventually they managed to find a large door, and they looked at it curiously.

"This door. . . seems familiar. . ." Sora said, looking at it.

"Yeah, it does." Riku nodded, and touched the door, trying to find a way to open it.

_Careful. _A voice seemed to echo in everyone's minds, and they looked around fruitlessly for the source. _This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your hearts are the mightiest weapons of all. Remember, you are the one's who will open the door to the light._

A bright light shone from the door, and everyone shielded their eyes. Suddenly they were on this island's beach.

"This is. . ." Riku reached down, holding some of the sand in his hands.

"It's Destiny Islands." Sora shook his head.

"Wait!" Amanda looked around, then jumped up a ramp and toward a waterfall, disappearing behind the bushes. Everyone followed, winding up in a small cave. They found Amanda by a large wooden door, looking at it.

Riku flinched. "It was my fault this island was taken."

"What do you mean?" Kristen looked at him, concerned.

Amanda looked back unmercifully. "He opened this door to the darkness, wanting to find other worlds."

"You did?" Sora asked.

"I didn't know!" Riku looked down at the ground. "I didn't think."

"You can't blame yourself. And you're working to fix it all." Kristen crossed her arms.

"She _does_ have a point." Melissa added. "So let's find Ansem, since he's somewhere on this island."

They ran out of the small cave, gasping in shock as they saw the destruction. The island began to fade away, leaving awful remains. At the edge stood Ansem, looking off the edge.

"Tied to the darkness. . . soon to be completely eclipsed. There is so very much to learn. You understand so little." The earth began to shake as he spoke, and the once-beautiful sea turned purple. "A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

"You're the guy that approached me in the Secret Spot!" Sora realized, drawing his Keyblade.

Ansem turned. "Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water. So this boy sought to escape this prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened everything to darkness." Riku flinched again as Ansem pointed at him, but Ansem continued. "Perhaps you would make a better host."

"Back off!" Kristen cast a Thundaga spell, and Ansem took a step back to avoid it. "You're gonna just go away and give Amanda back Alex!"

Ansem smiled. "No voice can reach Alex anymore. His heart belongs again to the darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came." He vanished and reappeared behind Sora, who jumped out of the way. "You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora yelled. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

Ansem began to float, and crossed his arms in contempt. "So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

They fought Ansem and the Heartless that protected him. When they were sure that they had defeated him, he floated backward and the land split in two, causing a giant crater to come forth. Sora and Riku jumped into the crater, but everyone else was unable to follow. They could only watch as the two fought a giant shadow. When that was fading away, Ansem approached Sora and Riku.

"We have to do something!" Kristen said, casting spells to keep the two alive. As they defeated Ansem a second time, the barrier over the crater dissolved, and they fell into the darkness below. Ansem floated in the darkness, and pointed to a door that sat on a detached piece of land, covered in a grey fog.

"Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!" He smiled. "Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours. Darkness conquers all worlds!"

The group turned and ran toward the door, Sora trying to lock it. Ansem laughed as it didn't work.

"It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." He appeared in front of the door and faces it. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness. . ."The door opened and dark tendrils came out, surrounding and suffocating the group. Melissa tried to slash at it, but her attempts were fruitless. Ansem smiled as the darkness surrounded him. "Supreme darkness. . ."

"You're wrong!" Sora protested, slashing his way through the darkness. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts . . . is light!"

The door opened all the way with his words, light pouring out. The darkness instantly disappeared, and Ansem vanished into the light. They ran to the door, and saw the many Heartless within, trying to get out.

Everyone began pushing at the door, but it wasn't closing fast enough. Kristen looked back at her sister, who was simply watching their attempts in a daze.

"Amanda!" Kristen yelled, and stopped pushing the door to shake some sense into her sister.

Amanda looked at her. "You cannot close the door right now. There must be two keys in order to close the door."

"What do you mean?" Riku ran up to Amanda, who looked back at him sadly.

"You must close it from the inside, locking it together with Sora. Only then can Kingdom Hearts be closed."

Riku nodded and ran inside the room, pulling the door from the inside as Sora and the others pushed. Heartless moved closer, and suddenly vanished as they were destroyed by a glowing mouse.

"King Mickey!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed.

"Let's close this door for good!" Mickey exclaimed, wiping out some more Heartless.

The crack between the two doors left only a small view, and Kristen looked at Riku, concerned. "Riku. . ."

"Don't worry! The King and I will find a way back! I promise! But we have to hurry!"

Kristen nodded and everyone pushed on the door even harder until it closed. Sora used his Keyblade to lock the door, and it vanished into nothingness. Everyone looked at eachother, happy that it was finally over.

"Guys. . ." Melissa looked at the other three girls, holding her hands up. They were fading.

"What's going on?!" Sora exclaimed, grabbing Stella's hands and realizing that she was fading too.

"I guess. . . we're going back home." Kristen sighed. They were already halfway invisible, and were rapidly fading.

"It's. . . time, I suppose." Amanda said reluctantly.

"What if I never see you again?" Sora looked at Stella desperately.

She shook her head and smiled. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a star charm that she had kept when she was younger. Stella looked at it, smiling, and handed it to Sora. "Now we'll have to meet again, so you can give it back. We'll find a way, I promise."

They finally vanished, leaving Sora, Donald, and Goofy by themselves. Sora looked down at the charm in his hand and smiled.

Amanda slowly rose her head, looking and the clock in front of her. It was still 3:30, the same time as when Stella had begun to put the game into the player. She hadn't recalled falling asleep, but the dream was all too real. She couldn't remember the last time she had a dream so vivid or so long that she had thought it was real. Her friends had just begun to wake up, and she wondered how they had all fallen asleep at the same time.

Looking at them, she realized that Melissa was flustered, both Kristen and Stella were crying, and she had the faintest sensation that she was, too.

"I just had. . . the best and worst dream ever. . ." Kristen whispered, wiping her eyes.

"Me too. I was in Kingdom Hearts. . ." Amanda smiled, remembering the dream. She looked back, noticing that her friends were staring at her oddly. "What?"

"I dreamt that too." Melissa said, crossing her arms. Stella and Kristen nodded.

Amanda straightened, and looked at the T.V. On it Sora was looking at a small charm, and the image faded to darkness and to credits. She stood and walked toward the TV, touching it, but nothing happened.

"It wasn't a dream." Stella said, shaking her head. "Not all of us could have dreamt that, and. . . I don't have my charm with me anymore. Sora has it. And we have this." Stella pointed out a necklace that she now was wearing. It was a perfect mini-replica of her weapon. Everyone looked at the necklace's they were wearing, smiling as they had replicas of their weapons, too.

"Guess we have to find a way back." Melissa grinned.

Amanda and Kristen looked at eachother and smiled. "Guess we have even more reason to anticipate the next game."

**End of Hearts Connected**

note from the author:

Thank you to those who read this. I would really appreciate reviews so I can apply them to the next series. Yes, there will be a "chain of memories" version. Look for that title or for "Links of Recollection." Once again, thank you.

-Saku


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